tihvavf  ofth^  theological  Seminar;? 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
REVEREND  JESSE  HAT.SKV.  n  n 
BV   813    .S43   1878 
Scribner,  William. 
"These  little  ones" 


- 1     f    -  •  ■r'l  *  ,      - 


"These  Littlt^ 


WHAT   GOD    HAS   COMMANDED   TOUCHING   THEIR 
CHURCH   MEMBERSHIP,  AND  WHAT  HE  HAS 
GRACIOUSLY    PROMISED    CONCERN- 
ING  THEIR    SALVATION. 


BY  THE^ 

Kev.  WILLIAM  SCRIBNER, 

Author  of 

PEAT  FOB  YOUE  CHILDEEN,"  "  PRAY  FOE  THE  HOLY  SPIKIT. 


PHILADELPHIA  ; 

PEESBYTERIAN  BOAED  OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1878,  by 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers,  Philada. 


JBetrication* 


TO 
THE  MEMORY 

OP 

MY    SAINTED    BEOTHEE, 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER, 

NO  LESS  TENDERLY  BELOVED  NOW 

THAN  WHEN 

HE  WAS  PRESENT  WITH  US. 


PREFACE. 


Within  the  last  twenty  years  the  mind  of 
our  ministers  and  people  has  been  much  exer- 
cised on  the  subject  of  the  church  relations  of 
tlie  children  of  the  covenant,  and  it  has  re- 
ceived no  little  attention.  That  the  general 
and  growing  attention  given  to  the  subject 
has  resulted  in  great  good  no  one  can  ques- 
tion. 

It  will  doubtless,  however,  be  freely  ad- 
mitted that  we  still  see  evidences  and  signs 
of  the  forgetfulness,  the  ignoring  or  the  dis- 
owning of  infant  church  membership  and  of 
God's  precious  covenant-promise  to  parents  in 
relation  to  their  children.  Multitudes  who 
would  by  no  means  surrender  infant  baptism 
are  unable  to  say  exactly  why  the  infants  of 
church  members  are  baptized.  Sabbath-school 
children  whose  parents  are  professors  of  re- 
ligion hear  never  a  word  from  their  superin- 


6  PREFACE. 

tendents  and  teachers  by  way  of  instructing 
them  concerning  their  covenant  relations  and 
covenant  duties.  Thousands  of  professors, 
and  we  know  not  how  many  pastors,  are  too 
well  satisfied  to  have  Sabbath-school  teachers 
do  the  whole  work  of  religiously  instructing 
the  children  of  the  Church.  Books  are  writ- 
ten on  the  conversion  of  children  in  which  the 
subject  does  not  have  even  the  slightest  men- 
tion. Committees  consisting  of  ministers  are 
often  appointed  by  presbyteries  to  visit  the 
churches  within  their  bounds  in  order  to  warm 
up  these  cold  churches,  without  receiving  from 
the  presbyteries  any  instruction  to  present  the 
subject  of  the  relation  of  the  baptized  chil- 
dren to  the  church,  and  to  warn  parents  not 
to  neglect  covenant  promises  and  covenant 
training  and  education.  Conventions  of 
elders  and  other  convocations  are  held  to 
consider  how  revivals  may  be  brought  on,  in 
which  not  a  word  is  breathed  as  to  the  need 
or  the  methods  of  arousing  churches  and 
Christians  on  this  subject.  And  when  the 
children  of  professors  become  communicants, 
it  is  frequently  the  case  that  the  people  have 


PREFACE.  7 

no  Other  idea  than  that  these  children  ^^join 
the  church'^  just  as  adults  join  it  when  they 
are  baptized.  It  is  believed,  therefore,  that 
the  necessity  for  the  continued  discussion  of 
this  subject  is  not  yet  superseded. 

The  subject  handled  in  the  first  chapter 
is  the  eternal  covenant  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son  in  reference  to  the  salvation  of 
Christ's  people,  since  it  is  this  which  lays  the 
foundation  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  of  which 
God  and  his  people  are  the  parties,  and  which 
covenant,  when  it  is  externally  and  visibly 
enacted,  includes  their  children. 

Our  sole  argument  for  the  church  member- 
ship of  the  children  of  professing  Christians 
is  the  one  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  chil- 
dren of  God's  people  were  by  divine  com- 
mand included  in  the  Church  under  the  old 
dispensation.  All  the  Jews  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation were  professors  of  the  true  religion 
and  constituted  the  visible  Church,  considered 
as  a  spiritual  society,  and  yet  their  children 
were  included  in  it  by  God's  command.  This 
is  the  broad  and  enduring  basis  of  infant 
church  membership. 


8  PREFACE. 

The  last  chapter  of  the  book  discusses 
the  promise  which  God  makes  to  faithful 
parents  that  their  children  shall  be  saved. 
We  would  especially  call  attention  to  this 
chapter. 

It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  many 
Christians  think  and  speak  of  God's  plan  of 
redemption,  of  their  own  salvation,  and  of 
the  salvation  of  their  children,  without  hav- 
ing present  to  their  minds  the  ideas  expressed 
by  the  word  "covenant."  The  reason  is  that 
the  word  itself  has  been  so  much  laid  aside. 
The  Scriptures  represent  the  plan  of  salvation 
under  the  form  of  a  covenant.  They  con- 
stantly use  that  word  with  reference  to  it. 
They  also  teach  that  every  soul  that  is  saved 
at  all  is  saved  by  covenant,  and  that  our  chil- 
dren are  saved  by  covenant.  Christians  should 
be  just  as  familiar  with  the  word  "cove- 
nant^' as  they  are  with  the  words  "grace," 
"throne  of  grace,"  "heirs  of  the  promise," 
"kingdom  of  God,"  "redemption,"  "precious 
faith,"  etc.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  word  were 
very  dear  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  frequently 
does  he  use   it  in  the  Bible.     What  is   the 


PREFACE.  9 

basis  of  church  membership  but  the  covenant 
of  grace  which  Christ  condescends  to  make 
with  his  people  ?  To  be  regarded  as  within 
the  covenant  and  to  be  recognized  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  are  the  same  thincr.  Let 
us,  then,  hold  on  to  the  word  if  we  would  not 
lose  sight  of  the  truths  expressed  by  it. 

One  word  more.  In  regard  to  the  subject 
of  the  church  membership  of  the  infants  of 
believers,  the  question  is  not  whether  the 
recognition  and  treatment  of  them  as  mem- 
bers would  be  attended  with  evils  or  not,  but 
the  question  is.  What  has  God  commanded  ? 
Let  us  search  the  Scriptures  to  ascertain  what 
God  requires  of  us;  then  let  us  obey  hitn, 
whatever  may  be  our  fears  as  to  the  evil 
consequences  which  may  flow  from  our 
obedience. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 
The    Eternal   Covenant  between  the  Fa- 
ther AND  THE  Son 13 

CHAPTER  11. 
The  Believer's  Covenant  with  Christ  when 
HE  First  Exercises  a  Living  Faith. — The 
Covenant  which  is  Externally  Enacted 

BY     ALL  WHO     PrOEESS    THE     CHRISTIAN     RE- 
LIGION        36 

CHAPTER  III. 
First  Step  in  the  Argument  for  the  Church 
Membership  of  Infants 57 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Second  Step  of  the  Argument. — The  An- 
swers TO  THIS  Argument  which  have  been 
Attempted   shown   to   be   Inconclusive. — 

The  Conclusion  Reached 88 

11 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE  V.  PAGE 
Objections    Considered. — Partial    Restate- 
ment OF  THE  Doctrine 110 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Promise  of  our  Covenant-Keeping  God 
TO  Bless  and  Save  the  Children  of  his 
People 133 


These  Little  Ones. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE     ETERNAL     COVENANT     BETWEEN     THE 
FATHER   AND   THE   SON. 

We  assume  that  it  is  the  belief  of  our 
readers  that  the  death  of  the  infinitely  holy 
and  innocent  Redeemer  was  a  real  endurance 
of  the  penalty  of  the  law ;  in  other  words, 
that  the  Son  of  God  was  substituted  in  our 
place,  that  our  sins  were  charged  to  his  ac- 
count, and  that  he  was  punished  in  our  room 
and  stead.  Now,  there  could  be  no  such 
thing  as  his  being  substituted  in  the  place  of 
all  his  people  without  his  being  substituted 
in  the  place  of  each  of  them.  Each  believer 
may  feel  that  the  blessed  Saviour  took  his 
place  as  truly  as  if  he  were  the  only  one  in 
the  universe  to  be  redeemed. 

The  language  of  the  Bible  is,  "Christ  hath 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 

13 


14  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

made  a  curse  for  us;''  "Who  his  own  self 
bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree/' 
These  assurances  do  not  mean  that  Christ 
obeyed  and  suffered  for  the  company  of  his 
people  in  general  only,  and  not  for  each  of 
them  in  particular.  They  speak  to  each  one 
as  an  individual  who  has  faith,  and  say  to 
him,  "Christ  was  made  a  curse  for  thee,  took 
thy  place  and  was  punished  for  thee;  his  own 
self  bare  thy  sins,  suffered  the  penalty  which 
tliou  deservedst  to  suffer."  It  is  thus  we  are 
to  understand  the  two  passages  quoted  above, 
and  also  a  multitude  of  similar  ones;  as,  "He 
was  wounded  for  our  trangressions,  he  was 
bruised  for  our  iniquities ;"  "  Christ  died 
for  us ;"  "  Christ  died  for  our  sins ;"  "  The 
good  Shepherd  giveth  his  life  for  the 
sheep ;"  "  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins,"  etc. 

The  blessed  Redeemer,  then,  in  obeying 
and  suffering  represented  us,  acted  as  our  sub- 
stitute— that  is,  as  the  substitute  of  each  of 
his  people.  But  his  substitution  in  our  place 
in  order  that  he  might  himself  render  a  satis- 
faction to  the  law  would  not  have  availed 
unless  the  Father,  the  supreme  authority, 
had  consented  to  the  adoption  of  the  plan. 


THESE    LITTLE  ONES.  15 

Without  the  approbation  and  sanction  of  the 
infinite  Judge  such  a  procedure  as  that  of  the 
substitution  of  an  innocent  victim  in  the  place 
of  the  guilty  criminal  would  clearly  have 
had  no  validity. 

Equally  true  is  it  that  such  a  procedure 
would  have  been  an  act  of  the  highest  injus- 
tice without  the  free  consent  of  the  one  whom 
it  was  proposed  to  substitute  in  the  sinner's 
place. 

What  are  we  to  infer,  then,  when  we  learn 
that  the  substitution  was  a  thing  of  actual 
occurrence — that  Christ,  the  holy  One,  act- 
ually died  as  our  substitute?  Are  we  not  to 
infer  that  both  the  Father  and  the  Son  did  in 
truth  consent  to  the  arrangement — that  the 
sanction  of  the  supreme  Judge  was  really 
given,  and  also  that  the  Son  himself  freely 
consented  to  being  made  our  substitute  ?  In 
short,  are  we  not  to  infer  that  in  the  counsels 
of  eternity  there  was  intercommunion  between 
the  Persons  of  the  Godhead,  in  which  each 
signified  his  concurrence  and  agreement  to  the 
arrangement  ?  Evidently  we  are  shut  up  to 
this  inference,  and  we  readily  see  that  in  such 
an  agreement  the  parties  go  far  toward  con- 
tracting a  covenant.      Only  one  thing  more 


16  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

is  needed  to  make  the  agreement  a  complete 
covenant. 

That  one  thing  is  that  the  Father  should 
stipulate  to  reward  his  Son  on  condition  of 
his  dying  as  our  representative  and  substi- 
tute. If  the  Father  freely  delivered  up  his 
only-begotten  Son  to  die  in  our  place,  and  if 
the  Son  freely  consented  to  be  delivered  up  to 
die  in  our  room  and  stead,  and  if,  in  addition 
to  this,  the  Father  promised  to  reward  his  Son 
for  enduring  the  penalty  of  the  law  that  we 
might  escape, — then  here  we  have  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  covenant. 

Now,  the  Scriptures  not  only  declare  that 
God  did  sincerely  consent  to  his  Son  dying 
(himself,  indeed,  laying  on  his  Son  our  in- 
iquities), and  that  the  Son  came  with  delight 
to  do  his  Father's  will  in  the  matter,  but 
they  declare  that  the  Father  stipulated  to 
recompense,  and  that  he  lias  already  begun  to 
recompense,  his  Son  for  dying.  They  teach, 
moreover,  what  that  recompense  or  reward 
was  to  be.  The  Redeemer  was  to  be  reward- 
ed (the  Scriptures  teach)  by  seeing  the  eternal 
happiness,  blessedness  and  glory  of  those  in 
whose  place  he  sliould  die  and  for  whom  he 
should  work  out  a  righteousness.     The  heart 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  17 

of  the  blessed  Son  of  God  was  set  on  seeing 
the  salvation  of  his  people,  loved  by  him 
from  eternity ;  and  it  is  as  if  the  Father  said 
to  him,  "Their  salvation  you  shall  see,  pro- 
vided you  be  actually  substituted  in  their 
place  and  obey  and  suffer  in  their  room  and 
stead — that  is,  provided  you  perform  the  con- 
dition of  the  same  covenant  of  works  which 
Adam  was  under,  now  enlarged  by  Adam's 
disobedience/'  Thus  it  was  that  the  two 
Persons  of  the  adorable  Trinity  entered  into 
a  covenant. 

Some  of  the  passages  which  teach  that  the 
Father  gave  this  work  to  his  Son  to  perform 
(the  work  of  bringing  in  an  everlasting  right- 
eousness by  his  obedience  and  suffering),  that 
the  Son  freely  undertook  the  work  assigned 
him,  and  that  the  Father  stipulated  to  reward 
him  by  "giving"  him  all  those  in  whose 
place  he  should  die,  are  the  following. 

To  quote  a  passage  first  from  an  Old  Testa- 
ment writer,  in  the  memorable  closing  verses 
of  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  we  read  as 
follows:  ^'When  thou  shalt  make  his  soul  an 
offering  for  sin,  he  shall  see  his  seed,  he  shall 
prolong  his  days,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord 
shall  pt^'osper  in  his  hand.     He  shall  see  of  the 

2 


18  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied:  by 
his  hioicledge  shall  my  righteous  servant  jus- 
tify many;  for  he  shall  bear  their  iniquities. 
Therefore  will  I  divide  him  a  portion  zvith  the 
great,  and  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the 
strong;  because  he  hath  poured  out  his  soid 
unto  death:  and  he  was  numbered  ivith  the 
transgressors ;  and  he  bare  the  sin  of  many, 
and  made  intercession  for  the  transgressors T 

Here  it  is  declared  that  the  blessed  Mes- 
siah is  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  rich  reward 
promised  him.  He  is  to  behold  his  seed,  his 
saved  ones,  he  is  lb  see  the  glorious  result  of 
the  travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied,  and 
all  because  by  his  own  agreement  the  Father 
was  to  deliver  him  up  and  make  his  soul  an 
offering  for  sin,  and  cause  him  to  bear  his 
people's  iniquities.  It  is  not  possible  to  read 
these  words  of  the  sacred  writer  without  see- 
ing that  what  Christ  suffered  he  had  been 
designated  to  suffer,  and  that  by  covenant. 

Among  the  many  declarations  of  the  New 
Testament  writers  on  this  subject,  none,  per- 
haps, is  more  striking  than  that  familiar  one 
contained  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Philippians,  where  we  are  told  that 
the  eternal  Son  of  God  made  himself  of  no 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  19 

reputation  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and  v^as  made  in  the  likeness  of  men, 
and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man  he  hum- 
bled himself  and  became  obedient  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  cross.  And  on  this 
account,  the  inspired  apostle  goes  on  to  say, 
God  hath  highly  exalted  him. 

With  the  declarations  of  our  Lord  himself 
bearing  on  this  subject  all  readers  of  the 
New  Testament  are  familiar.  Some  of  these 
declarations  are  found  in  John  iv.  34;  vi. 
38-40;  X.  27-29;  xvii.  4,  9,  24.  They 
should  be  taken  together;  and  when  thus 
read,  they  teach  that  the  Father  gave  the 
Son  a  work  to  perform,  a  prominent  part 
of  which  consisted  in  his  devoting  himself 
to  death  for  his  sheep;  that  he  sent  him 
into  the  world  to  accomplish  that  work,  and 
that  he  promised  to  reward  him  upon  its  ac- 
complishment by  causing  those  given  him  to 
come  to  him,  to  be  partakers  of  his  redemp- 
tion. Christ  represents  his  coming,  his  hu- 
miliation, his  dying,  as  what  his  Father's 
commandment  had  enjoined  upon  him  and 
as  what  his  Father  loved  him  for :  Therefore 
doth  my  Father  love  me  because  I  lay  down 
my  life.  .  .  .   This  commandment  \i.  e.,  to  lay 


20  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

down  his  life]  have  I  received  of  my  Father. 
And  he  represents  the  eternal  life  of  his 
people  as  the  recompense  set  before  him  for 
coming  into  the  world  and  dying.  He  was 
not  to  lose  a  single  one :  And  this  is  the 
Father^s  ivill  that  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he 
hath  given  me  I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should 
raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day.  And  this  is 
the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me,  that  every  one 
which  seeth  the  So7i  and  believefh  on  liim  may 
have  everlasting  life. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  work  of  Christ 
has  immediate  respect  to  a  covenant.  ^' The 
authority  of  the  Father  appoints  certain 
duties  to  the  Son ;  the  Father's  love  and 
faithfulness  guarantee  to  the  Son  certain 
promises  of  support,  countenance,  comfort, 
victory.  The  Son  undertakes  the  duties  as- 
signed, and  appeals  to  the  promises  relating 
to  them.''  It  has  been  truly  said  that  this 
wonderful  covenant  or  compact  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  kept  before  the  mind 
and  not  lost  sight  of,  gives  doctrinal  signif- 
icance to  wliat  were  otherwise  mere  exter- 
nal history,  for  it  places  the  outward  move- 
ments of  Christ's  career  on  earth  in  their 
true   relations   with  the   eternal   purpose   of 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  21 

the  Godhead  and  the  eternal  destinies  of 
men. 

The  consent  on  the  part  of  the  eternal  Son 
to  subject  himself  to  the  law  to  which  we 
were  bound  involved  an  agreement  to  be- 
come incarnate.  This  was  a  necessary  "pre- 
Uminary  step,  and  this,  therefore,  was  a  part 
of  the  work  assigned  him  by  the  Father. 
He  was  to  be  born  of  a  woman — born  as  we 
are  born — taking  to  himself  a  true  body  and 
a  reasonable  soul.  Thus,  though  he  was  to 
remain  the  same  divine  Person  he  had  ever 
been,  he  was  to  take  our  nature  into  personal 
union  with  himself.  Taking  part  of  flesh 
and  body,  becoming  bone  of  our  bone  and 
flesh  of  our  flesh,  becoming  in  all  things 
like  unto  his  brethren,  yet  without  sin,  he 
would  not  only  be  constituted  a  person  sus- 
ceptible of  suffering  and  death,  but  he  would 
be  made  capable  of  sympathizing  with  his 
people,  of  being  touched  with  the  feeling  of 
their  infirmities.  As  his  becoming  incarnate 
was  a  necessary  preliminary  step,  he  cove- 
nanted thus  to  assume  our  nature  no  less 
than  to  die. 

The  subject  of  the  covenant  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son  in  reference  to  the  salva- 


22  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

tiou  of  man  is  full  of  mystery.  It  is,  liow- 
ever,  clearly  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
what  the  Scriptures  teach  in  relation  to  it  ^Ye 
must  reverently  consider.  There  is,  indeed, 
one  only  living  and  true  God,  yet  in  the 
Godhead  there  are  three  Persons.  This  ad- 
mits of  one  being  the  object  of  the  acts  of 
the  other,  and  of  one  loving  and  addressing 
the  other.  It  admits  of  two  of  the  divine 
Persons  entering  into  a  covenant  with  each 
other.  ^'  The  infinitude  of  God  does  not 
render  such  a  transaction  impossible.'^ 

Although  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  a  covenant  between  two  parties  which 
requires  that  they  should  be  on  an  equality, 
yet  the  two  parties  to  the  eternal  covenant 
of  grace  are  equal :  they  are  equal  in  honor, 
power  and  glory.  Nor  are  the  Scriptures, 
when  they  affirm  this  equality,  inconsistent 
with  themselves  in  teaching  that  the  Father 
sends  the  Son  into  the  world,  gives  him 
a  work  to  do  and  promises  to  reward  him 
for  performing  the  work  assigned  him.  If 
this  implies  some  kind  of  subordination  of 
the  Son  to  the  Father,  it  is  a  subordination 
without  inferiority.  It  is  a  subordination 
which  is  consistent  with  the  Son's  possessing 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  23 

the  same  infinite  perfections  that  belong  to 
the  Father. 

What  makes  it  so  important  that  the  cove- 
nant of  grace  shoukl  fill  a  large  space  in  our 
thoughts  is,  that  it  constitutes  a  union  be- 
tween Christ  and  his  2:)eople  prior  to  all  the 
other  unions  which  exist  between  them.  It 
is  the  foundation  of  the  representative  union. 
When  the  blessed  Redeemer  covenanted  with 
the  Father  to  undertake  the  work  of  pur- 
chasing our  redemption,  he  became,  even  in 
the  counsels  of  eternity,  one  with  us.  Thus 
it  became  fit  that  he  should  become  our 
representative,  our  substitute,  and  die  for 
us.  He  could  not  be  accepted  as  standing 
in  the  relation  of  the  substitute  and  surety 
of  his  people  without  this  pi^evious  covenant 
oneness.  What  comfort,  then,  should  it  give 
us  to  know  that  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world  this  union  was  really  established  ! 
Being  identified  with  the  people  given  unto 
him  by  the  covenant  which  took  place  be- 
tween himself  and  the  Father,  he  becomes 
their  competent  and  acceptable  substitute 
and  surety. 

Another  reason  why  it  is  important  that 
the  covenant  of  grace  should  be  fully  recog- 


24  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

nized  and  frequently  held  up  before  our 
minds,  is  that  where  Christ,  the  last  Adam, 
is  little  recognized  as  a  covenant  head  there 
can  be  little  reason  or  inducement  to  recog- 
nize the  first  in  that  light  either.  ''It  will 
uniformly  be  found  that  the  theology  which 
is  meagre  in  reference  to  the  covenant  of 
grace  is  still  more  so  as  to  the  covenant  of 
^vorks.  In  fact,  it  is  more  from  what  is 
partly  the  analogy  and  partly  the  antithesis 
of  the  two  covenants,  when  set  forth  in  the 
mutual  light  which  they  reflect  on  each  other, 
that  the  covenant  of  works  becomes  manifest 
than  in  any  very  express  or  abundant  evi- 
dence of  its  own  alone."* 

When  the  blessed  Son  of  God,  by  the 
terms  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  became  our 
substitute,  it  was  with  the  view,  as  already 
stated,  of  performing  the  same  condition  the 
fulfillment  of  which  was  originally  demand- 
ed of  Adam  in  order  to  his  obtaining  eternal 
life — with  this  difference,  that  in  consequence 
of  Adam's  transgression  the  condition  com- 
prehended more  in  its  requirements  than  it 

*  The  Atonement  in  its  Relations  to  the  Covenant,  the 
Priesthood,  the  Intercession  of  our  Lord,  by  Eev.  Hugh 
Martin. 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  25 

originally  did.  The  eternal  covenant  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Son  was  indeed  a 
sepnrate  covenant  from  that  made  with  Adam 
in  Eden,  yet  the  fulfillment  of  the  terms  of 
the  one  covenant  was  the  express  condition 
of  the  other  covenant,  except  that  in  the  case 
of  man  in  a  state  of  innocence  the  condition 
was  only  obedience  to  its  precepts,  whereas 
in  the  case  of  guilty  man  and  that  of  Christ, 
his  representative,  it  was  not  only  obedience, 
but  suffering. 

As  the  covenant  of  grace  was  formed  with 
Christ  as  the  head  and  representative  of  his 
people,  it  was  formed  in  him  with  all  those 
given  to  him  by  the  Father.^     Thus  we  see 

*  There  is  no  doctrinal  difference  between  tliose  wlio 
hold,  as  we  do,  that  the  only  real  covenant  connected 
with  the  salvation  of  man  is  the  eternal  covenant  of 
grace  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  tliose  who 
hold  that  besides  this  eternal  covenant  (which  tliey  call 
the  covenant  of  redemption)  there  is  a  covenant  between 
God  and  believers,  this  last  being  styled  by  them  the 
covenant  of  grace.  It  mnst  be  remembered  that  even 
the  former  class,  who  include  all  the  facts  of  Scripture 
relating  to  the  subject  under  one  covenant,  admit  that 
the  transaction  with  believers  in  reference  to  their  sal- 
vation may  be  called  a  covenant,  only  they  maintain 
that  it  is  but  the  administration  by  the  Mediator  of  the 
eternal  covenant  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  its 


26  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

why  the  apostle  draws  a  parallel  between 
Adam  and  Christ.  Adam  and  Christ  are 
the  respective  federal  heads  or  representatives 
of  those  whom  the  one  by  his  disobedience 
involved  in  condemnation,  and  for  whom  the 
other  has  by  his  obedience  obtained  eternal 
life. 

We  have  considered  a  few  of  the  passages 
of  Scripture  which  teach  that  the  Son  is 
recompensed  for  bringing  in  an  everlasting 
righteousness  throu(»:h  his  obedience  and  suf- 
fering  by  seeing  the  eternal  happiness  and 
blessedness  of  those  for  whom  he  died;  in 
other  words,  by  witnessing  the  salvation  of 
his  Church.  This  was  the  joy  which  was  set 
before  him.  This  was  his  crowning  reward, 
the  recompense  which  he  most  coveted.  But 
in  addition  to  this  promise,  which  had  respect 
to  his  beloved  people,  there  was  a  promise  or 

blessings  to  those  for  whom  they  are  intended.  Tims 
they  hold  that  this  covenant  with  believers  (which  they 
contend  should  be  looked  at  in  the  light  of  an  adminis- 
trative provision,  since  Christ  gives  them  the  faith  he 
demands  of  them),  promising  them  salvation  on  con- 
dition of  faith,  is  not  an  entirely  separate  one  from  the 
covenant  of  which  God  and  his  Son  are  the  parties. 
And  the  covenant  between  Christ  and  his  people  may 
with  propriety  also  be  called,  as  the  othe^-  is,  the  cove- 
nant of  grace. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  27 

stipulation  which  had  respect  to  his  own 
Person. 

1.  It  was  provided  that  he  should  be  ex- 
alted to  the  throne  of  universal  dominion. 

Our  Lord  had  reference  to  this  promise  of 
the  eternal  covenant  when,  just  as  he  was  about 
to  ascend,  he  said  to  his  disciples,  All  power  is 
given  to  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Heaven 
and  earth  are  in  scriptural  language  tlie 
wliole  universe.  To  this  promise  made  to 
the  Son  the  apostle  also  had  reference  when, 
writing  to  the  Philippians,  he  says :  Where- 
fore God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him  and 
given  him  a  name  vjhich  is  above  every  name: 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should 
how,  of  things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth 
and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that  every 
tongue  should  corf  ess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Jjord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father ;  and  to  the 
Ephesians  God  raised  Christ  from  the  dead 
and  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the  hea- 
venly places,  far  above  all  principality  and 
poiver  and  might  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but 
also  in  that  which  is  to  come,  and  hcdh  ind  all 
things  under  his  feet. 

The  absolutely  universal  dominion  of  the 


28  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

God-man  Mediator  is  also  asserted  in  He- 
brews wlien  it  is  said,  Thou  hast  put  all  things 
in  subjection  under  his  feet ;  for  in  that  he  put 
all  in  subjection  under  him,  he  left  nothing  that 
is  not  jnU  under  him. 

Our  blessed  Jesus  has  ascended  up  on 
higli.  He  is  recompensed  for  all  his  suHfer- 
ings.  He  is  gone  into  heaven,  and  is  on  the 
rigid  hand,  of  God,  angels  and  authoriUes  and 
p)owers  being  made  subject  unto  him.  The 
Father  loveth  the  Son ;  and  in  accordance 
with  the  arrangements  of  the  counsels  of 
eternity,  he  hath  committed  all  things  into 
his  hands.  Having  been  thus  exalted  to  a 
position  of  unlimited  dominion,  he  has  re- 
ceived such  names  and  titles  as  King  of 
kings.  Lord  of  all,  and  Prince  of  peace.  As 
mediatorial  King,  our  Saviour  has  the  vo- 
litions and  actions  of  all  moral  agents  in  the 
entire  universe  under  his  com])lete  control. 
"All  discordant  passions  and  interests,  all  the 
activities  of  superior  intelligences,  as  well  the 
enmity  of  fiends  as  the  ministry  of  angels,'^ 
and  even  all  irrational  and  inanimate  things, 
are  made  subservient  to  his  designs. 

The  dominion  of  which  we  speak  must  not 
be  confounded  with  that   providential   gov- 


THESE   LITTLE  ONES.  29 

erimient  wliicli  necessarily  belongs  to  Christ 
as  a  divine  Person,  and  of  which  he  can 
never  divest  himself.  We  are  speaking  of 
that  sovereignty  which  attaches  to  that  won- 
derful and  glorious  Person,  the  God-man, 
occupying  the  office  of  mediator,  and  which 
has  been  given  him  in  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  of  the  covenant  made  with  him  by 
the  Father.  Our  Mediator  is  not  the  Logos, 
but  that  man  in  whom  dwells  all  the  fullness 
of  the  Godhead,  the  Son  of  God,  w^ith  our 
nature  in  such  intimate  union  with  his  divine 
Person  that  it  is  as  truly  his  own  as  his 
divine  nature  is.  '^  That  a  person  in  wdiom 
dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,^ 
and  who  is  filled  w^ith  all  the  love,  tender- 
ness, compassion,  meekness  and  forbearance 
which  Christ  manifested  while  here  on  earth, 
has  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  committed 
to  his  hands,  and  is  not  far  from  any  one 
of  us,  is  an  unspeakable  delight  to  all  his 
people.'^ 

It  is  in  order  that  he  may  carry  on  his 
mediatorial  work  that  he  is  thus  exalted. 
But  such  exaltation  would  not  have  been 
possible  unless  he  had  already  been  in  pos- 
session of  divine  perfections,  for  the  nature 


30  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

of  tins  dominion,  and  its  extent,  demand  such 
perfections.  God  has  not  said,  "Sit  on  my 
right  hand,''  to  any  creature  but  to  Him  who 
was  already  the  brightness  of  his  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  his  Person.  For  only 
one  possessed  of  omnipotence,  omniscience 
and  omnipresence  could  exercise  a  dominion 
embracing  all  creatures  and  all  orders  of 
beings,  and  reaching  even  to  the  reason  and 
conscience.  Inasmuch  as  this  kingdom,  ex- 
tending over  the  universe,  ha§  been  given  to 
Christ  in  order  that  he  may  have  power  to 
consummate  the  work  of  redem])tion,  when 
this  purpose  is  accomplished  he  will  deliver 
it  up  and  no  longer  as  Mediator  reign  over 
the  universe.  But  he  will  still  remain  the 
Head  and  Sovereign  of  the  redeemed  in  hea- 
ven, and  that  for  ever. 

2.  But  the  exaltation  promised  the  Re- 
deemer in  the  eternal  compact  consists  not 
only  in  his  being  appointed  to  have  domin- 
ion over  the  universe.  It  consists  also  in 
his  being  appointed  to  administer  the  affairs 
of  his  own  people — his  Church  as  distinct 
from  the  universe. 

This  Church  is  a  kingdom  of  vast  extent. 
In  one  aspect  it  embraces  the  body  of  Christ's 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  31 

professing  people — that  is,  the  visible  organ- 
ized church  ;  in  another  aspect  his  kingdom 
relates  only  to  those  who  have  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  are  truly  members  of  his  body. 

First.  We  will  first  say  a  few  words  about 
his  kingly  office,  as  it  relates  only  to  these 
latter — viz.,  to  those  who  have  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  are  his  own  true  people. 

In  executing  his  kingly  office  as  it  relates 
to  his  own  true  people — his  own  redeemed 
ones — he  performs  acts  which  terminate  di- 
rectly on  their  souls;  for,  seated  on  his 
throne,  he  "as  Mediator  effectually  applies  to 
his  people  through  his  Spirit  that  salvation 
which  he  had  previously  achieved  for  them 
in  his  estate  of  humiliation.''  As  the  God- 
man  and  Head  of  the  Church,  the  Mediator 
has  received  the  Holy  Spirit  to  send  to  his 
chosen  people  to  renew  their  hearts,  to  sanc- 
tify, establish  and  comfort  them,  and  to  en- 
rich them  with  heavenly  gifts. 

The  apostle  speaks  of  this  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians  where  he  says.  To  every  one 
of  us  is  given  grace,  according  to  the  measure 
of  the  gift  of  Christ.  Wherefore  he  saith,  when 
he  ascended  up  on  high,  he  led  cajjtivity  captive, 
and  gave  gifts  unto  men.     And  Peter  teaches 


32  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

the  same  truth  when  he  says  to  the  Jewish 
rulers,  Him  hath  God  exalted  with  his  right 
hand  to  he  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give 
repentance  to  Israel  and  forgiveness  of  sin. 

Christ  is  the  source  of  the  inward  life  of  his 
people — the  Church  for  which  he  died — and 
also  of  its  power.  This  would  not  be  possi- 
ble if  he  were  only  human,  but  he  is  more 
than  human.  His  Person  is  divine;  he  is 
the  God-man ;  and  it  is  as  such  that  in 
ascending  up  on  high  he  led  captivity  cap- 
tive and  gave  gifts  unto  men.  The  gifts  be- 
stowed upon  his  people  are  those  which  he 
secured  for  them  by  fulfilling  by  his  obe- 
dience and  death  the  conditions  of  the  cove- 
nant of  grace.  And  it  is  by  bestowing  upon 
them  these  inward  gifts  that  he  applies  his 
purchased  redemption  to  them. 

Had  our  first  federal  head,  Adam,  fulfilled 
in  Paradise  the  condition  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  had  he  wdien  on  probation  strictly  ad- 
hered to  the  law's  demands,  he  would  have 
received  at  the  close  of  his  probation  the 
reward  promised  him,  and  the  blessing 
would  also  have  come  upon  his  posterity.  We 
should  have  been  made  partakers  of  it.  We 
should  have  j^artaken  of  it  immediately  upon 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  33 

our  coming  into  existence,  for  we  should  have 
had  no  depravity  to  be  first  removed  in  order 
to  render  us  capable  of  fully  entering  upon 
our  reward,  and  no  act  of  our  souls  would 
have  been  necessary  to  make  Adam's  obedience 
our  obedience.  And  as  no  act  of  ours  would 
have  been  necessary,  as  no  co-operation  on  our 
part  would  have  been  required,  to  place  us  in 
the  position  to  be  benefited  by  Adam's  obedi- 
ence, so  no  one  holding  an  office  analogous  to 
Christ's  kingly  office  would  have  been  need- 
ed to  administer  to  us  the  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal good  secured  for  us  by  Adam's  perfect 
conformity  to  the  divine  law  durins;  the 
limited  period  of  his  probation.  The  good 
merited  for  us  by  Adam's  righteousness  we 
would  at  once  have  enjoyed. 

But  Adam  broke  the  covenant — he  failed 
to  render  obedience — and  merited  no  reward 
either  for  himself  or  for  us  whom  he  repre- 
sented. And  now,  our  souls  cannot  come  into 
possession  of  the  benefits  of  redemption  which 
the  second  Adam  has  merited  for  us,  unless 
they  are  by  Christ  himself  administered  to 
us.  Hoio  he  administers  them  to  us  has 
already  been  seen.  He  bestows  inward  gifts 
upon  us.      He  sends  us  his  Holy  Spirit  to 


34  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

give  us  faith.  The  Spirit  of  Christ  works 
faith  in  ns,  and  gives  us  strength  to  submit 
to  the  righteousness  of  God.  But  faith  is 
not  a  gift  alone;  it  is  also  our  duty  to  Christ. 
It  is  an  exercise  of  our  own  souls — one 
which  is  so  necessary  that  we  cannot  be 
saved  without  it — while  it  is  to  Him  who  is 
our  Redeemer  and  Sovereign  a  duty.  And 
thus  it  is  that  our  blessed  Mediator,  in  the 
very  act  of  enriching  us  with  the  benefits  of 
redemption,  secures  our  performance  of  the 
duties  to  be  performed  by  us  as  the  con- 
dition of  obtaining  those  benefits. 

Second.  But  while  in  one  aspect  of  Christ's 
kingly  office  that  office  relates  only  to  those 
who  have  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  within 
them,  and  are  thus  the  true  members  of  his 
body,  he  also  as  King  administers  the  affairs 
of  the  Church  as  an  external  and  organized 
body. 

It  is  not  our  design  to  go  into  the  subject 
of  Christ's  kingly  administration  of  the  af- 
fairs of  his  Church,  considered  as  visible  and 
external.  Some  of  his  kingly  acts  with  ref- 
erence to  his  external  Church  are  those  of 
prescribing  its  form,  order,  and  functions,  and 
also  its  officers,  who  are  to  act  as  organs  of 


THESE    LITTLE   OXES.  35 

those  functions,  etc.  Anotlier  act  which  he 
performs  with  reference  to  his  ])eo})lej  as  pro- 
fessors of  his  religion,  is  that  of  requiring  of 
them,  visibly  and  before  men,  to  covenant 
with  him.  If  they  obey  him,  they  will  not 
only  enter  into  covenant  with  him  in  an 
inward  spiritual  manner  by  embracing  his 
gospel  by  faith,  but  they  will  visibly  and 
externally  covenant  -with  him  by  professing 
him  before  men.  It  was  one  of  the  stipula- 
tions of  the  eternal  covenant  of  grace  between 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  that  the  Son  should 
administer  to  his  people  his  purchased  bless- 
ings by  covenanting  with  them  and  requiring 
them  to  enter  into  covenant  with  him.  And 
when  they  visibly,  before  witnesses,  enter 
into  covenant  with  their  mediatorial  King, 
declaring  that  they  will  be  his  people  and 
serve  him,  they  covenant  for  their  children 
(as  we  shall  endeavor  to  prove)  as  well  as 
for  themselves ;  and  thus  it  is  that  the  chil- 
dren of  professors  are  members  of  the  visible 
Church. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  believer's  COVENANT  WITH  CHRIST 
WHEN  HE  FIRST  EXERCISES  A  LIVING 
FAITH. THE  COVENANT  WHICH  IS  EX- 
TERNALLY ENACTED  BY  ALL  WHO  PRO- 
FESS   THE    TRUE    RELIGION. 

I.  There  is  an  inward  embracing  of  the 
covenant,  which  is  the  act  of  every  soul  when 
it  exercises  a  living  faith. 

There  is  something  which  we  must  do  in 
order  to  be  saved.  AYe  must  believe.  We 
must  receive  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Son  of  God,  in  whom  and  for  whose  sake 
salvation  is  bestowed  upon  us.  We  cannot 
partake  of  the  blessings  of  the  eternal  cov- 
enant unless  we  have  faith.  This  faith, 
this  consentiup;  of  the  soul  to  be  saved  on 
God's  own  terms,  this  receiving  Christ,  is 
not  the  meritorious  ground  of  our  salvation  ; 
nevertheless,  it  may  be  called  the  condition 
of  our  salvation  in  the  sense  of  being  a  sine 
qua  nan  to   salvation.     If  salvation   is   be- 

36 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  37 

stowed  upon  those,  and  upon  those  only,  who 
trust  In  Jesus,  then  this  trust  may  be  said 
to  be  the  condition  on  which  we  are  saved, 
simply  because  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
we  should  exercise  trust,  and  not  because 
there  is  any  merit  in  the  act. 

Faith,  then,  is  the  condition  (as  thus  un- 
derstood) on  which  salvation  is  bestowed 
upon  us.  If  this  be  so,  it  follows  that  every 
one  who  has  found  Jesus  and  has  accepted 
of  him  as  his  only  Saviour  has  entered  into 
a  covenant  with  him,  and  that  because  Jesus 
agrees  to  save  such  a  soul  on  condition  that 
it  trusts  in  him,  and  the  soul  agrees  to  the 
condition  and  does  cordially  exercise  the 
trust.  Here  is  a  covenant,  and  it  is  right 
to  call  the  promise  to  save  the  believing  soul 
a  covenant  promise. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  benefits  of  redemp- 
tion have  already  been  purchased  by  Christ 
for  those  to  whom  they  belong,  he  having 
fulfilled  the  conditions  of  the  eternal  cove- 
nant by  his  obedience  and  suiferings. 

The  Father  rcAvards  his  Son  for  his  humil- 
iation, and  one  part  of  the  Son's  reward  con- 
sists in  his  having  the  benefits  of  his  cove- 
nant placed  in  his  hands  to  dispense  to  his 


38  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

own  people.  He  dispenses  them  to  each  soul 
given  to  him  by  the  Father  by  entering  into 
a  special  covenant  with  that  soul.  The 
soul  fulfills  its  part  when  it  believes,  and 
the  mediatorial  King  fulfills  his  part  by  be- 
stowing upon  it  salvation.  It  is  not  meant 
that  what  thus  takes  place  between  the  be- 
liever and  his  Saviour  is  the  fulfillment  or 
carrying  out  of  exactly  the  same  kind  of 
covenant  which  men  make  with  each  other, 
for  the  very  power  to  exercise  faith  is  a  gift 
of  Christ's  Spirit;  nevertheless,  faith  is  a 
duty  to  Christ  as  well  as  a  gift  from  him,  and 
must  be  an  act  of  our  own.  If  faith  is  an 
act  of  our  own,  then  we  co-operate  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  exercising  it.  Every  believer, 
without  a  single  exception,  by  an  act  of  his 
own  enters  into  a  covenant  with  Christ  in 
the  secrecy  of  his  soul  as  soon  as  in  his 
inmost  soul  he  believes.  Yes,  we  are  saved 
by  sincerely  and  inwardly  embracing  Christ's 
gracious  covenant-promise.  It  is  under  this 
form — the  form  of  a  covenant — that  the  gos- 
pel is  represented  in  God's  word. 

When  the  convinced,  trembling,  conscience- 
stricken  sinner  comes  to  the  Saviour,  the  Sa- 
viour says  nothing  to  him  about  the  number 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  39 

and  enormity  of  his  past  sins.  He  asks  no 
question  as  to  the  past;  he  asks  no  other 
question  than  "Have  you  faith  in  me?''  If 
the  sinner  can  reply  with  truth,  "  Lord,  I 
believe,"  then  the  Saviour  will  fulfill  his 
promise  to  bless  and  to  save  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  And  the 
life  and  salvation  promised  include  every 
blessing,  every  gift,  every  mercy,  which  we 
receive  from  the  time  we  first  exercise  faith 
until  we  die.  Every  good  thing  the  believer 
receives,  no  matter  how  small,  is  bestowed 
upon  him  in  fulfillment  of  this  promise  and 
in  covenant  love. 

A  dying  Christian  once  said,  "The  evil 
one  has  once  or  twice  since  I've  been  sick 
tried  to  tempt  me  to  doubt  my  acceptance 
with  God,  but  I  dare  not  do  it,  for  God  has 
promised,  and  I  dare  not  doubt  his  word. 
He  has  promised  that  he  will  accept  all  who 
put  their  trust  in  him.  This  I  have  done, 
and  do  still.  Salvation  is  sincerely  offered  to 
those  who  come  to  Jesus,  and  I  have  come. 
I  therefore  will  not  doubt." 

Here  is  .a  recognition  of  the  existence  of  a 
covenant.  When  this  dying  believer  said 
that,  having  come  to  Christ,  he  was  sure  of 


40  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

salvation  because  salvation  is  promised  to 
those  who  thus  come,  he  said  in  effect  that 
he  was  saved  by  embracing  a  covenant.  If 
a  Christian  knows  that  he  believes,  but,  not- 
withstanding that,  a  sense  of  his  sinfulness 
prevents  him  from  drawing  the  conclusion 
that  Christ  will  certainly  save  him,  then  he 
doubts  that  Christ  will  be  faithful  to  his  cov- 
enant promise.  AV  hen  ever  the  Bible  teaches 
that  men  are  saved  by  faith,  and  in  no  other 
way,  it  teaches  that  they  are  saved  simply 
by  having  an  interest  in  the  covenant  of 
grace. 

As,  therefore,  every  Christian  knows  that 
his  own  salvation  is  by  faith,  he  knows 
that  it  is  because  he  has  been  enabled  to 
lay  hold  of  the  promise  of  the  covenant 
that  he  is  saved.  Even  believers  who 
lived  before  the  time  of  Abraham,  as  Abel, 
Enoch,  Noah  and  others,  had  knowledge  of 
tliis  covenant  and  embraced  it,  for  they  were 
saved  by  faith,  the  promise  of  redemption 
having  been  given  by  Christ  in  the  garden 
of  Eden.  All  who  have  in  their  hearts  ac- 
cepted the  covenant  in  the  way  now  de- 
scribed are  thereby  placed  in  communion 
with  the  body  of  God's  true  people — that  is, 


THESE   LITTLE    ONES.  41 

with  the  invisible  Church,  and  they  thereby 
become  members  of  that  Church. 

(II.)  There  is  an  outward  act,  an  external 
acceptance  of  the  terms  of  the  covenant,  which 
takes  place  when  a  person  receives  baptism. 

We  have  spoken  of  that  inward  embracing 
of  the  covenant  of  grace  by  faith  which  may 
be  affirmed  to  be  the  act,  and  which  must  be 
the  act,  of  every  soul  that  is  saved.  But  in 
addition  to  this  there  is  an  outward  accept- 
ance of  the  terms  of  the  covenant  which  the 
Church  and  the  world  witness,  and  which 
consists  in  making  openly  a  profession  of 
religion.* 

In  regard  to  this  making  a  public  profes- 
sion, this  entering  into  a  covenant  with  the 
Lord  before  the  Church  and  the  world,  we 
have  several  things  to  say,  and — 

■^  Of  coarse  we  do  not  hold  that  this  external  covenant- 
ing on  the  part  of  those  who  make  an  open  profession 
by  being  baptized  is  an  agreement  to  exercise  a  merely 
historical  faith,  but  really  to  believe  and  obey.  It  is  the 
believer's  pledging  himself  visibly  before  men  to  do  the 
very  same  thing  which  he  has  already  inwardly  done.  If 
the  person  is  not  a  true  Christian,  his  external  covenant- 
ing at  the  time  he  is  baptized  is  his  public  avowal  that 
he  exercises  the  faith  which  the  spectators  mistakenly 
assume  he  has  already  exercised  in  the  secrecy  of  his 
soul. 


42  THESE    LITTLE    0^'ES. 

Fb^st,  as  to  the  origin  or  first  beginning 
of  this  external  covenantino:.  It  beo;an  with 
Abraham. 

Until  Abraham's  day  the  covenant  had  no 
seal,  neitlier  was  any  badge  used  to  mark 
tliose  as  professors  who  professed  faitli  in  the 
coming  Redeemer.  But  after  Abraham  liad 
been  called  into  the  land  of  Canaan  it  pleased 
the  Son  of  God,  the  Mediator,  to  form  the 
company  of  believers  into  an  external  organ- 
ized Church.  For  this  purpose  he  required 
Abraham  to  enact  the  covenant  with  Him- 
self, his  Saviour  and  his  God,  in  an  exter- 
nal manner  before  men,  and  to  receive  cir- 
cumcision as  a  badge  to  mark  him  as  one 
who  thus  professed  faith.  The  transaction 
between  Jehovah  and  Abraham,  so  often  re- 
ferred to  by  the  sacred  writers,  is  not  only 
called  a  covenant  in  the  Old  Testament,  but 
whenever  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
speak  of  it  they  give  it  this  name.  We  have 
an  account  of  it  at  length  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Genesis;  but  before  quoting  the 
passage  in  Genesis  we  would  remark  that 
although  it  contained  disclosures  which  had 
never  before  been  made,  either  to  the  patri- 
arch or  to  any  who   preceded   him,  yet  its 


THESE   LITTLE   OXES.  43 

great  promise,  that  of  redemption,  had  been 
previously  given  to  men,  and  Abraham  had 
long  beeu  familiar  with  It.  He  had  not  only 
been  familiar  with  it,  but  he  had  laid  hold 
of  it  to  the  saving  of  his  soul.  As  far  as  its 
main  element  was  concerned,  the  covenant 
had  even  been  both  known  and  embraced  by 
members  of  Adam's  family,  as  also  by  many 
others  who  lived  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
world's  history.  We  cannot  believe  that 
men  had  so  long  been  offering  their  typical 
sacrifices  without  having  any  understanding 
of  their  true  spiritual  intent;  and  if  they 
understood  the  s[)iritual  intent  of  sacrifices, 
they  had  knowledge  of  the  precious  gospel 
promise — that  is,  of  God's  gracious  covenant 
wnth  man.  But  we  proceed  to  quote  the  pas- 
sage which  contains  the  words  of  the  cove- 
nant. The  first  fourteen  verses  of  the  sev- 
enteenth chapter  of  Genesis  read  as  follows: 
And  when  Ahram  ivas  ninety  years  old 
and  nine  J  the  Lord  appeared  to  Abrain,  and 
said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Almighty  God;  walk 
before  me,  and  be  thou  pjerject.  And  I  will 
make  my  covenant  bcticeen  me  and  thee,  and 
will  multiply  thee  exceedingly.  And  Abram 
fell  on  his  face:   and   God  talked  with  him^ 


44  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

saying,  As  for  me,  behold,  my  covenant  is  with 
thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  a  father  of  many 
nations.  Neithej^  shall  thy  name  any  more  be 
called  Abram,  but  thy  name  shall  be  Abra- 
ham;  for  a  father  of  many  nations  have  1 
made  thee.  And  I  will  make  thee  exceeding 
fruitful,  and  I  will  make  nations  of  thee,  and 
kings  shall  come  out  of  thee.  And  I  vnll 
establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee 
and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations 
for  an  everlasting  covenant ;  to  be  a  God  unto 
thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee.  And  I  will 
give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  the 
land  wherein  thou  art  a  stranger,  all  the  land 
of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  possession  ;  and 
I  will  be  their  God.  And  God  said  unto 
Abraham,  Thou  shalt  keep  my  covenant  there- 
fore, thou,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their 
generations.  This  is  my  covenant,  ivhich  ye 
shall  keep,  between  me  and  you,  and  thy  seed 
after  thee;  every  man-child  among  you  shall 
be  circumcised.  And  ye  shall  circumcise  the 
flesh  of  your  foreskin  ;  and  it  shall  be  a  token 
of  the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you.  And  he 
that  is  eight  days  old  shall  be  circumcised 
among  you,  every  man-child  in  your  genera- 
tions, he  that  is  born  in  the  house,  or  bought 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  45 

with  money  of  any  stranger,  which  is  not  of  thy 
seed.  He  that  is  born  in  thy  house,  and  he  that 
is  bought  with  thy  money,  must  needs  be  circum- 
cised :  and  my  covenant  shall  be  in  your  flesh 
for  an  everlasting  covenant.  And  the  uncir- 
Gumcised  man-child  lohose  flesh  of  Ids  foresJdn 
is  not  circumcised,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off 
from  his  'people;  he  hath  broken  my  cove- 
nant. 

Here  we  have,  as  was  said,  the  origin  or 
first  beginning  of  the  external  covenanting 
between  God  and  believers.  Although  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  this  covenant  made  with 
Abraham,  in  as  far  as  it  promised  spiritual 
blessings,  included  all  nations,  since  the  cov- 
enant contains  the  promise  that  its  terms 
should  be  offered  to  men  of  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  resulting  in  a  blessing  to  mul- 
titudes, yet  the  real  parties  to  it  were  God  on 
the  one  hand  and  Abraham  and  his  descend- 
ants on  the  other.  The  ones  with  whom  the 
covenant  was  made  were,  we  say,  Abraham 
and  those  whom  the  patriarch  represented  ; 
and  by  it  he  learned  that  it  was  the  divine 
purpose  to  make  his  seed  as  numerous  as 
the  stars  of  heaven,  and  to  bestow  upon 
them  the  land  of  Canaan   and   much  tern- 


46  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

poral  prosperity.  He  received  the  assurance 
that  Christ  should  be  sent  into  the  world  to 
be  the  Saviour  of  men^  and  that  he  should 
appear  in  the  line  of  his  descendants;  and 
there  was  wrapped  up  in  this  announcement 
a  promise  to  the  patriarch  that  both  he  him- 
self and  his  descendants  should  be  saved  on 
condition  of  faith.  The  patriarch  was  told, 
moreover,  that  it  was  by  means  of  a  visible 
sign  and  seal  that  the  covenant  between  God 
and  himself  was  to  be  enacted,  and  that  all 
his  household  would  be  looked  upon  as  in- 
cluded In  the  covenant  in  such  a  sense  as 
that  they  would  be  regarded  as  themselves 
embracing  it,  and  being  so  regarded  they 
were  to  be  circumcised  no  less  than  himself; 
that  each  one  of  his  natural  descendants  in  all 
the  generations  to  come  icould  be  considered,  as 
embracing  the  covenant  as  soon  as  his  exist- 
ence shoidd  begin,^  on  the  ground  of  which 

■^  For  a  Jewish  child  to  be  regarded,  as  soon  as  born 
as  one  who  had  already  embraced  the  covenant  was  the 
same  as  for  such  a  child  to  be  regarded  as  a  visible 
church  member  as  soon  as  born.  It  was  not  his  receiv- 
ing the  seal  of  circumcision  on  the  eighth  day,  there- 
fore, which  made  him  a  church  member;  he  was  a 
church  member  in  consequence  of  his  filial  relation  to 
a  parent  who  professed  the  true  religion,  and  his  cir- 


THESE    LITTLE    OXES.  47 

each   one  was   also  to    receive  circumcision. 


but  that  if  at  any  time  a  parent  should  refuse 
to  allow  his  child  to  be  circumcised,  the  cov- 
enant would  in  this  case  be  considered  as 
broken  :  "  he  hath  broken  my  covenant." 

That  God,  as  one  of  the  parties  to  this 
covenant,  promised  the  patriarch  salvation 
on  condition  of  faith,  and  that  Abraham,  as 
the  other  party,  promised  to  believe  and  obey 
Jehovah  as  the  God  of  his  redemption,  w^e 
expect  to  prove  hereafter.  Most  of  the  read- 
ers of  this  little  volume  are  doubtless  already 
convinced  of  it,  and  these,  of  course,  have 
always  regarded  this  transaction  (as  it  really 
is)  as  the  beginning  of  that  act  of  outwardly 
covenanting  with  the  Lord  which  is  still  the 
act  of  all  who  sep.-.irate  themselves  from  the 
world  to  unite  with  the  Church. 

Second.  God's  design  in  requiring  his  peo- 
ple to  enter  into  covenant  with  himself  in  an 
external  manner  was  to  form  the  company  of 
believers  into  a  visible,  external  Church  as 
an  aggregate  of  families.  This  statement  is 
involved  in  the  explanation  just  given  of  the 
origin  of  the  covenanting.     At  first  circum- 

ciiracision  on  the  eighth  day  Avas  but  the  seal  and  badge 
of  an  already-existing  church  membership. 


48  THESE    EITTLE    ONES. 

cision  was  enjoined,  ]:>ut  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation the  badge  of  the  covenant,  or  of 
church   membersliip,  is  baptism. 

The  true  invisible  Church  is  kept  in  exist- 
ence by  the  inward  embracing  of  the  gospel 
covenant  by  men  when  they  exercise  faith, 
but  the  Church,  considered  as  visible  and 
organized,  is  continued  in  existence  by  that 
outward  covenanting  with  Christ  to  believe 
and  obey  him  which  we  witness  when  we 
behold  persons  joining  themselves  to  the 
body  of  professors.  And  when  baptism  is 
administered  to  such  persons,  it  marks  them 
not  as  certainly  believers,  but  as  those  who 
profess  to  be  believers.  It  appears,  then,  that 
the  end  to  be  secured  by  the  covenanting 
with  the  Lord  Jesus  externally  and  before 
w^itnesses  is  to  perpetuate  the  visible  Church. 
AVith  the  Lord  Jesus,  we  say ;  for  even  the 
outward  visible  covenanting  is  to  be  looked 
upon  as  taking  place  rather  between  Christ 
and  professors  than  between  God,  as  God, 
and  professors. 

For  if  the  Lord  Jesus  is  our  Mediator,  it 
devolves  upon  him  to  administer  the  benefits 
of  the  eternal  covenant  of  grace,  the  con- 
ditions of  wdiich   he  has  fulfilled.      But  in 


THESE    LITTLE   OXES.  49 

order  that  he  may  fully  administer  them,  He 
must  be  that  Person  of  the  Trinity  whose 
work  it  is  to  enact  with  men  that  covenant 
by  which  they  visibly  engage  to  rely  solely 
on  the  Saviour's  merits  and  to  be  obedient 
to  his  voice. 

Even  under  the  old  dispensation  it  was 
Jehovah,  the  second  Person,  who  adminis- 
tered the  benefits  of  the  redemption  which 
in  the  fullness  of  time  were  to  be  purchased 
by  himself.  He  began  to  dispense  them 
when,  immediately  after  the  fall,  he  revealed 
the  glorious  gospel  truth,  ^'  The  seed  of  the 
woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head."  He 
continued  after  this  to  dispense  them  in  all 
the  ways  by  which  he  carried  on  the  work  of 
the  Church's  redemption.  AVe  know  this  to 
be  the  exact  truth,  because,  when  we  read  the 
Old  Testament,  we  find  that  the  very  Jeho- 
vah who  so  often  appeared  and  spoke  to  men, 
and  instructed,  guided  and  commanded  his 
people,  was  at  the  same  time  the  "  Sent "  of 
God.  He  was,  then,  not  the  first  but  the  sec- 
ond Person  of  the  Trinity.  It  was  He  who 
had  undertaken  the  office  of  Mediator  who 
administered  the  affairs  of  the  Church  before 
the  advent. 

4 


50  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

Remember,  tlien,  believer,  not  only  that 
all  Christians  renew  their  covenant  with 
Christ  whenever  they  partake  of  the  Lord's 
Snpper,  but  that  it  is  with  Him  that  all  enact 
a  covenant  when,  in  the  beginning  of  their 
Christian  course,  they  receive  the  seal  and 
badge  of  baptism.  And  it  is  by  means  of 
this  covenanting  with  him  by  baptism  ex- 
ternally and  before  witnesses  that  his  vis- 
ible Church  is  perpetuated. 

Third.  It  is  this  external  covenanting,  or, 
in  other  words,  this  personal  professing  re- 
ligion or  piety,  and  not  the  actual  possession 
of  religion  or  piety,  which  is  the  condition 
of  visible  church  membership  as  far  as  adults 
are  concerned. 

What  is  meant  by  this  is  that  applicants 
for  church  membership  are  not  received  into 
the  church  because  church  officers  are  con- 
fident of  their  piety  upon  examining  them, 
but  because  church  officers  are  bound  by 
God's  command  to  accept  their  profession  of 
piety  or  religion,  provided  that  profession  is 
credible.  The  Holy  Spirit  tells  us  that  the 
jailer  of  Philippi  believed  as  soon  as  Jesus 
was  preached  unto  him,  but  that  does  not 
prove  that  the  apostle  himself  felt  certain  of 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  51 

it.  As  Paul  could  not  read  the  hearts  of 
people,  he  could  not  be  absolutely  sure  that 
the  jailer  had  become  a  new  creature;  but 
he  accepted  the  man's  profession  of  faith 
and  baptized  him  on  the  ground  of  it ;  and 
had  he  not  done  so,  he  would  have  diso- 
beyed Christ.  He  had  no  choice  about  the 
matter. 

When  ministers  administer  baptism  to 
adults  who  are  desirous  of  professing  pub- 
licly their  faith  in  Christ,  it  is  with  the  full  un- 
derstanding on  the  part  of  the  ministers  them- 
selves and  of  all  the  spectators  that  they 
cannot  read  the  hearts  of  the  applicants. 
And  yet,  for  all  that,  God  has  expressly  com- 
manded them  to  place  his  badge  of  church 
membership  upon  applicants  whose  profes- 
sion is  simply  credible.  God  might  himself 
have  set  the  mark  or  badge  of  membership 
on  people,  placing  it  only  on  those  Avho  in 
his  sight  are  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  exercise  true  faith,  and  in  that  case  none 
in  the  world  would  receive  baptism  but  true 
Christians.  But  instead  of  himself  doing 
this,  he  appoints  fallible  men  to  perform  the 
act,  who,  because  they  are  men  and  have  no 
power  to  discern  what  is  going  on  within  the 


52  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

soul  of  another,  cannot  possibly  be  sure  that 
they  whom  they  receive  as  church  members 
are  true  believers. 

Thus  we  are  required  to  regard  and  treat 
persons  making  a  credible  jprofession  as  Chris- 
tians. With  all  our  uncertainty  about  their 
inward  state,  if,  having  competent  knowledge, 
they  profess  to  trust  in  the  Saviour  and  their 
profession  is  credible,  we  sin  against  God  un- 
less we  treat  them  as  brethren.  But  if  their 
walk  and  conversation  are  clearly  inconsistent 
with  the  possession  of  piety,  their  profession 
is  not  credible.  So  that,  although  we  may 
have  secret  doubts  of  the  piety  of  applicants 
for  church  membership — secret  doubts  that 
they  belong  to  the  invisible  Church — we  have 
no  right,  because  of  these  secret  doubts,  to 
refuse  to  receive  them  into  the  visible  Church 
by  allowing  them  externally  to  covenant  with 
Christ,  so  long  as  they  have  competent  know- 
ledge and  are  guilty  of  nothing  plainly  incon- 
sistent with  the  possession  of  piety.  Surely, 
if  we  often  have  to  admit  that  we  fail  to  give 
evidence  of  our  own  piety  satisfactory  to  our 
own  minds,  and  yet  think  it  right  to  remain 
in  the  visible  Church,  we  ought  not  to  demand 
of  others  evidence  of  regeneration  absolutely 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  53 

and  unquestionably  satisfactory  to  ourselves 
as  the  condition  of  church  membership. 
God  gives  us  no  permission  to  do  it ;  and  be- 
sides, should  any  church  make  the  attempt 
thus  to  separate  the  tares  from  the  wheat,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  them  to  succeed,  since 
to  no  set  of  men  has  power  ever  been  given 
to  read  the  heart.  "  It  is  the  duty  of  church 
officers  to  examine  the  applicant  as  to  his 
knowledge,  to  watch  and  inquire  concerning 
his  walk  and  conversation,  to  set  before  him 
faithfully  the  inw^ard  spiritual  qualifications 
requisite  for  acceptable  communion,  and  to 
hear  his  profession  of  that  spiritual  faith  and 
purpose.     The  responsibility  of  the  act 

THEN  rests  upon  THE  INDIVIDUAL  PRO- 
FESSOR, and  not  upon  the  session,  who  are 
never  to  be  understood  as  passing  judgment 
upon  the  validity  of  his  evidence.^^ 

Of  course  it  is  not  meant  that  the  duty  of 
the  ministers  and  elders  to  the  applicants  is 
wholly  discharged  when  they  have  admitted 
them  to  communion.  Would  they  but  visit, 
watch  over,  encourage,  instruct,  guide  and 
pray  with  those  whom  they  may  have  ad- 
mitted with  misgivings,  they  would  be  re- 
warded by  witnessing  the  establishment  of 


64  THESE    LITTLE    O^^ES. 

the  new  members  in  the  faith ;  and  should 
they  even  receive  some  to  communion  in  an 
unconverted  state,  the  real  conversion  of  such 
new  communicants  would  almost  certainly  be 
the  result  of  their  faithfulness. 

Fowdh.  We  have  seen  what  the  condition 
of  church  membership  is  as  far  as  adults  are 
concerned — that  it  is  the  profession  of  per- 
sonal faith.  But  we  maintain  that  some  in- 
fants are  members  of  the  visible  Church,  and 
what  is  the  condition  of  their  church  mem- 
bership ? 

AYe  answer,  ISTot  their  giving  us  evidence 
that  they  are  regenerated.  Nor  is  it  a  pro- 
fession of  religion  in  their  own  persons  or 
a  profession  of  personal  faith  such  as  is  re- 
quired of  adults.  But  the  condition  of  infant 
church  membership  is  the  filial  relation  to  a 
'parent  who  professes  the  true  religion.  This 
Ave  expect  to  show  in  the  following  chapter. 

Briefly,  we  understand  the  Scriptures  to 
teach  that  the  child  is  represented  in  the 
parent — that  the  parent  acts  for  the  child ;  so 
that  whenever  he  enters  into  covenant  with 
God  for  himself,  he  enter  into  covenant  in 
behalf  of  his  child  also,  and  the  child  is  to  be 
regarded  and  treated  as  though  he  had  done 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  55 

in  his  own  person  what  his  parent  did  in  his 
name.  It  follows  from  this  that  if  a  parent 
becomes  a  member  of  the  vlsi1)]e  Church  by 
making  a  profession  of  religion,  his  eliil- 
dren  have  the  right  to  be  recognized  as 
church  members,  since  they  are  to  be  re- 
garded and  treated  as  included  in  their 
parent's  act  until  they  are  old  enough  to 
act  for  themselves. 

From  all  this  it  is  plain  that  the  condition 
of  visible  infant  church  membership  is,  as 
was  said,  the  filial  relation  to  a  parent  who 
professes  faith  in  Christ.  This  would  not  be 
a  true  representation  of  the  case  did  the 
Scriptures  require  us  to  adopt  the  principle 
that  men  can  only  make  a  profession  for 
themselves.  This,  however,  is  not  the  prin- 
ciple taught  in  the  Bible.  It  everywhere 
teaches  just  the  opposite.  Under  the  old 
dispensation,  whenever  any  foreigner  became 
a  Jew,  his  children,  by  God's  command,  be- 
came Jews.  Here  the  principle  is  recognized 
that  the  parent  in  covenanting  with  God  acts 
as  the  representative  of  his  child.  It  is  be- 
cause Christian  Churches  still  act  on  this 
principle  that  Christian  Churches  (with  one 
exception)  teach   that  the  children   of  those 


56  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

who  profess  Christ  are  born  within  the 
Church — that  when  one  lays  hold  of  the 
covenant  of  grace  for  himself,  his  children 
are  to  be  regarded  as  doing  the  same  thing. 
While,  therefore,  the  Church  requires  an 
adult  to  make  a  credible  profession  of  per- 
sonal faith  as  the  condition  of  becoming 
a  church  member,  the  condition  of  infant 
church  membership  is  the  filial  relation  to 
a  parent  who  makes  such  a  profession. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  then,  that  when 
we  undertake  to  prove  in  the  following  pages 
that  the  infants  of  professors  are  members 
of  the  visible  Church,  we  do  not  undertake 
to  prove  that  they  are  actually  regenerated. 
We  only  contend  that  they  are  included  in 
that  class  who  are  by  divine  command  to  be 
regarded  as  embraced  in  the  covenant  and 
treated  as  such — in  other  words,  that  they 
belong  to  that  class  of  persons  who  are  to 
be  regarded  and  treated  by  the  church  as 
church  members. 


Oii7*  argument  for  the  clitirch  inember" 
shijy  of  infants  is  that  by  divine  command 
the  children  of  believinr/  ijarents  were  in- 
cluded in  the  Church  of  old. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    FIEST   STEP   IN   THE   ARGUMENT. 

Some  maintain  that  the  Church  of  God 
under  the  old  dispensation  was  in  no  sense 
a  spiritual  society.  They  maintain  that  the 
condition  of  membership  in  it  was  by  no 
means  any  engagement  to  exercise  faith  and 
to  fulfill  similar  inward  spiritual  duties — that, 
on  the  contrary,  the  condition  was  nothing 
more  than  birth  as  an  Israelite,  with  the 
promise  to  perform  ceremonial  and  other  ex- 
ternal observances.  Hence  the  Church  of  the 
old  dispensation  and  that  of  the  new  are  two 
entirely  different  societies  or  churches,  so  that, 
even  if  infants  were  members  of  the  Old 
Testament  Church,  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  should  be  recognized  as  members  of 
the  Church  of  the  new  dispensation. 

It  is  not  denied  by  these  persons  that  there 

67 


68  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

have  always  been  believers  in  the  world. 
They  admit  that  before  Abraham's  day  many 
received  the  promise  of  redemption  by  faith, 
and  that  not  only  the  patriarch  himself,  but 
multitudes  of  his  descendants  also,  were  true 
believers.  But  they  insist  that  that  visible 
society  which  owed  its  origin  to  the  A  bra- 
ham  ic  covenant,  and  which  was  the  Church  of 
the  old  economy,  was  altogether  distinct  from 
the  Church  which  has  existed  since  the  time 
of  Christ;  and  from  this  alleged  dissimilarity 
they  draw  the  conclusion  in  reference  to  the 
ecclesiastical  status  of  children  mentioned 
above. 

AVe  are,  therefore,  called  on  to  prove,  as 

THE    FIRST    STEP    IN    OUR    ARGUMENT,    that 

the  visible  Church  of  the  old  dispensation  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  new  dispensation — 
that  the  visible  Church  which  exists  in  these 
Kew  Testament  times  is  but  the  continuation 
of  the  Old  Testament  Church. 

Under  the  old  economy  every  Jew  was  a 
member  of  the  visible  Church.  Whether  he 
inwardly  and  with  his  heart  embraced  the 
Abrahamic  covenant  none  could  tell;  it  was 
his  irrofcssing  to  do  so  which  constituted  him 
a  visible  Church  member.     Under  the  new 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  59 

dispensation  that  wliich  makes  any  one  a 
member  of  the  visible  Church  is  his  profess- 
ing to  embrace  the  covenant  of  grace.  Now, 
this  being  so,  we  have  only  to  show  that  the 
covenant  Avith  Abraham,  as  it  was  professed 
to  be  embraced  by  the  ancient  Jew,  is  the 
same  thing  with  the  covenant  of  grace,  as 
professed  to  be  embraced  by  baptized  persons 
of  our  day,  in  order  to  prove  the  identity  of 
the  Church  under  both  dispensations.  For 
if  that  which  determines  the  nature  of  the 
visible  Church  is  the  nature  of  the  covenant 
which  her  members  publicly  profess  to  enter 
into  with  God,  then,  if  that  covenant  is  ex- 
actly the  same  in  any  two  given  periods  of 
the  Church's  history,  it  follows  that  in  these 
two  periods  of  her  history  the  visible  Church 
herself  must  be  the  same. 

A  mnltitude  of  people  in  the  world  have 
been  by  the  command  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
organized  into  a  body  which  we  call  the 
visible  Church.  That  which  distinguishes 
it  is  that  all  its  members  profess  faith  in 
Jesus  as  their  Saviour,  and  obedience  to  liim. 
This  is  the  covenant  which  they  profess  that 
they  have  entered  into  with  Christ  their  Lord 
in  the  secrecy  of  their  souls.     Every  adult 


60  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

applicant  is  received  into  this  company — the 
visible  Church — simply  on  the  ground  of 
his  profession,  provided  it  is  credible.  The 
agreement  or  covenant  within  the  soul  to 
trust  in  Jesus,  being  an  inward  spiritual 
act,  is  not,  of  course,  between  the  applicant 
and  the  visible  Church  into  which  he  is  ad- 
mitted, but  between  the  applicant  and  Christ 
himself;  and  all  that  the  Church  does  is  to 
accept  the  applicant's  profession  that  he  has 
inwardly  entered  into  covenant  with  Christ 
and  place  upon  him  the  badge — the  badge 
of  baptism,  which  is  also  a  seaL  Some 
of  these  members  of  the  visible  Church  ex- 
isting in  the  world  have  never  had  any  true 
faith — have  never  really  inwardly  covenant- 
ed with  Christ — i.  e.,  accepted  of  him  as  their 
Saviour — and  such  are  not  what  they  profess 
to  be;  and  yet,  if  their  profession  is  credible, 
the  Church  did  right  in  receiving  them,  since 
it  only  acted  in  accordance  with  Christ's  com- 
mand. 

Now,  we  have  affirmed  that  the  visible 
Church  of  the  new  dispensation  is  identical 
with  the  visible  Church  (founded  on  the 
Abrahamic  covenant)  which  existed  before 
the  advent  of  Christ,  because  the  covenant 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  61 

whicli  is  professed  to  be  embraced  by  the 
Church  of  the  new  dispensation  is  the  same 
Abrahamic  covenant  which  the  Church  of 
old  professed  to  accept.  Under  the  new  dis- 
pensation that  which  constitutes  a  person  a 
member  of  the  visible  Church  is  that  pub- 
lic act  which  any  one  performs  when  he  pro- 
fesses to  embrace  in  his  soul  the  covenant 
promising  salvation  to  believers — i.  e.,  the 
covenant  of  grace.  But  this  very  covenant 
was  the  one  which  was  placed  by  God  before 
Abraham  and  the  Jews  of  old  for  their  ac- 
ceptance, and  the  professing  to  embrace  which 
made  them  church  members. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that,  in  seeking  to  estab- 
lish the  proposition  that  the  Church  under 
both  dispensations  is  identical,  the  thing  de- 
volving upon  us  is  to  prove  that  the  Cove- 
nant between  God  and  believers,  as  professed 
to  be  embraced  by  those  who  unite  with  the 
visible  Church  under  both  dispensations,  is 
identical.  We  have,  however,  a  few  words 
to  add  before  presenting  the  Scripture  proof 
of  the  identity  of  this  covenant. 


62  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

A  FEW  WORDS  COXCERNIXG  THE  COVENANT 
AS  ORIGINALLY  ENACTED,  AND  ALSO  CON- 
CERNING ITS  RE-ENACTMENT  WITH  THE 
ISRAELITES. 

Ill  the  covenant  wliich  Christ  made  with 
Abraham  he  promised  the  patriarch  that  his 
descendants  should  be  very  numerous,  that 
he  would  give  them  the  land  of  Canaan  for 
a  possession,  and  that  he  would  be  their  na- 
tional God  and  make  them  his  peculiar  peo- 
ple;  and,  above  all,  as  the  Scripture  proof, 
which  we  shall  present  in  the  sequel,  will 
show,  he  promised  spiritual  and  eternal  bless- 
ings to  both  the  patriarch  and  his  descend- 
ants on  condition  of  faith. 

And  what  did  Abraham,  on  his  part,  prom- 
ise? By  being  circumcised  when  he  embraced 
the  covenant  he  promised  to  take  God  to  be 
his  God,  and  to  believe  in  Jehovah's  decla- 
ration that  he  would  make  his  descendants 
numerous  and  give  them  the  land  of  Canaan. 
And  we  expect  also,  before  this  chapter  is  fin- 
ished, to  make  it  clear  that  he  })romised  and 
professed  faith  in  Christ  as  his  Redeemer. 

All  this  is  said  about  the  patriarch,  but 
what  is  said  about  his  household?     We  are 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  63 

taught  that  they  also  signified  their  assent 
to  the  terms  of  this  covenant  by  being  cir- 
cumcised— in  .  other  words,  that  they  made 
the  very  same  promise  and  profession  of  be- 
lief and  obedience  which  the  patriarch  him- 
self made.  They  were  visibly  (inasmuch  as 
they  were  circumcised)  included  in  the  cove- 
nant. The  position  of  Abraham's  son  Ish- 
mael  was  not  exactly  the  same  as  that  of 
Isaac.  He  had  no  interest  in  the  promise 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  being  from  any  por- 
tion of  that  inheritance  expressly  excluded. 
And  since  he  was  not  to  inherit  the  land  of 
Canaan,  he  was  not  called  on  to  profess  his 
belief  that  God  would  give  it  to  him.  But 
as  far  as  the  -spiritual  aspect  of  the  covenant 
is  concerned,  he  also  was  visibly  included  in 
the  covenant,  for  he  too  received  the  seal  of 
the  righteousness  of  faith.  He  also  was  a 
professor  of  the  true  religion  ;  and  if  he  real- 
ly did  what  he  professed  to  do — :that  is,  if  he 
really  exercised  saving  faith — he  is  now  in 
heaven  no  less  than  Abraham  and  Isaac. 
Ishmael's  case  shows  that,  since  circumcision 
was  administered  to  those  who  were  denied 
all  share  in  the  national  privileges  of  the 
children  of  Abraham,  it  (circumcision)  by  no 


64  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

means  had  sole  reference  to  the  national  cov- 
enant, but  also  had  reference,  and  even  pri- 
mary and  special  reference,  to  the  spiritual 
covenant. 

By  this  transaction  between  Christ  and 
Abraham  he  and  his  household  were  con- 
stituted the  visible  Church ;  and  though  the 
w^orld's  population  was  very  great,  yet  none 
then  living  belonged  to  the  visible  Church 
except  Abraham's  household.  There  may 
have  been  saints  or  believers  in  the  country 
from  which  the  patriarch  came,  and  there 
may  have  been  a  few  hidden  believers  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  but  they  were  not  in  the 
visible  Church  in  the  sense  in  which  Abra- 
ham and  his  family  were  in  it. 

THE  JEWS  AT  MOUNT  SINAI  WERE  FORMED 
INTO  A  COMMONWEALTH,  BUT  THEY  WERE 
STILL  A  CHURCH. 

Abraham  represented  his  posterity,  and 
therefore  not  only  the  members  of  his  house- 
hold, who  were  his  contemporaries,  but  all  his 
descendants,  were  regarded  as  making  the  same 
profession  of  obedience  and  faith  which  he 
himself  made.  This  applies  to  the  Hebrews, 
his  descendants,  whom  many  years  afterward 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  65 

we  find  in  the  wilderness  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Moses.  God  at  that  time  gave  them, 
through  Moses,  a  code  of  laws  called  the  Mo- 
saic law,  thereby  constituting  them  a  com- 
monwealth. He  condescended  to  become 
their  King.  He  was  from  that  time  to  rule 
them  not  merely,  as  he  does  all  nations,  with 
a  providential  sway,  but  "  he  was  to  fill  that 
place  in  their  political  system  which  is  filled 
in  other  states  by  human  sovereigns."  He 
was  to  appoint  their  rulers.  The  Hebrew 
state  during  all  the  time  of  its  existence  had 
human  magistrates,  but  the  people  were  not 
regarded  as  bearing  distinct  relations  to  the 
magistrate  and  to  God :  all  their  obligations 
were  to  God.  The  commonwealth  was  a 
theocracy.  The  code  of  laws  which  God 
enacted  for  them  embraced  their  civil,  na- 
tional, social,  personal  and  religious  duties. 
Those  enactments  of  this  Mosaic  law  which 
regulated  their  religious  duties  required  ser- 
vices and  observances  of  them  which  none 
could  render  except  men  who  professed  faith 
in  the  Redeemer  to  come,  and  thus  the  laws 
by  which  the  nation  was  governed  recognized 
the  nation's  Church  character,  and  even  as- 
sumed that  it  was  a  Church  resting  on  the  Ahra- 

5 


66  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

hamiG  covenaiit  The  reward  promised  for 
keeping  outwardly — /.  e.,  in  the  external  life — 
the  Mosaic  law,  was  temporal  prosperity,  se- 
curity, fruitful  seasons,  etc.  Should  any  man 
be  seen  by  the  omniscient  God  to  be  destitute 
of  a  true  faith,  such  a  one  could  have  no 
well-founded  hope  of  salvation ;  nevertheless, 
while  the  want  of  saving  faith  w^ould  be  at- 
tended with  the  loss  of  spiritual  blessings, 
it  would  not  deprive  those  destitute  of  it  of 
temporal  and  national  benefits,  provided  they 
rendered  an  external  obedience  to  the  Mo- 
saic law.  So  long  as  external  obedience  was 
faithfully  rendered  they  were  also  freely  ad- 
mitted, independently  of  their  inward  spirit- 
ual condition  (and  of  course  their  real  spirit- 
ual condition  could  not  be  discerned  by  their 
fellow-men),  to  the  services  of  the  temple,  to 
the  Passover,  and  to  all  the  sacred  festivals 
and  typical  institutions  of  their  dispensation ; 
and  when  guilty  of  offences  against  the  laws 
of  the  theocracy,  upon  offering  the  sacrifices 
appointed  and  complying  with  certain  cere- 
monial requisitions,  the  external  disabilities 
to  which  their  offences  had  subjected  them 
w^ere  removed,  even  though  in  the  sight  of 
God   they  w^ere    not  true   penitents,  and    so 


THESE    LITTI.E    ONES.  67 

were  not  savingly  interested  in  Christ's  sal- 
vation. 

Thus  we  see  that,  although  the  kingdom  of 
God  under  the  old  dispensation  was  a  com- 
monwealth, yet  it  was  a  Church  as  well. 
"  The  people  were  a  Church  in  the  form  of  a 
nation.  The  great  promise  was  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  by  the  Messiah.  To  this 
everything  else  was  subordinate.  The  main 
design  of  the  constitution  of  the  Hebrews  as 
a  distinct  nation,  and  of  their  separation  from 
all  other  people,  w^as  to  keep  alive  the  prom- 
ise of  the  covenant — i.  e.,  the  promise  of  sal- 
vation through  Christ.'^  The  Israelites  were 
regarded  as  having  already  made  a  profession 
of  embracing  that  covenant  before  the  trans- 
action between  God  and  them  at  Mount  Si- 
nai. As  was  said,  Abraham  represented  his 
descendants,  so  that  his  act  of  covenanting 
with  God  was  regarded  as  theirs.  They 
were,  therefore,  assumed  to  be  already  in  cov- 
enant with  Jehovah  and  professors  of  the 
true  religion,  only  at  Mount  Sinai  there  was 
a  re-enacting  of  the  covenant  w^hich  they  had 
already  professedly  embraced.  At  the  same 
time,  as  we  have  seen,  God  attached  to  it  the 
code  of  laws,  called  the  Mosaic  law,  which 


68  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

constituted  them  a  state  or  commonwealth. 
Nevertheless,  the  Mosaic  law  did  not  give 
birth  to  the  Hebrew  nation,  whether  we  look 
at  it  as  a  nation  or  a  Church,  The  Hebrew 
Church  and  nation  were  originated  by  the 
Abrahamic  covenant.  This  is  what  we  also 
affirm  of  the  Church  of  the  new  dispensa- 
tion. It  rests  on  the  same  covenant  on  which 
the  Church  of  old  was  built — that,  namely, 
which  Christ  formed  with  Abraham — a  cov- 
enant promising  salvation  on  condition  of 
faith.  Aiid  as  the  Church  must  always  be 
the  same  while  the  covenant  on  which  it  rests 
is  the  same,  the  Old  Testament  Church  and 
the  New  Testament  Church  are  identical. 

It  is  true  that  the  present  dispensation  is  a 
different  dispensation  from  that  which  the 
Old  Testament  Church  was  under.  What 
this  means  it  is  important  to  know.  Many, 
even  educated  people,  have  not  sufficiently 
attended  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  word 
^'  dispensation.^^  By  the  old  (or  Mosaic)  dis- 
pensation we  mean  the  old  mode  of  dispensing 
saving  blessings  and  gifts  to  the  Church.  By 
the  new  dispensation  is  meant  that  mode  of 
dispensing  such  blessings  to  the  Church  which 
has  taken  the  place  of  the  old  mode.     There 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  69 

has,  then,  been  a  change,  but  it  has  not  affect- 
ed his  Church  as  to  its  essence,  nor  liave 
the  benefits  and  blessings  been  changed  from 
what  they  were.  "  Modes  and  forms  of  dis- 
pensation do  not  aifect  the  substance  of  the 
things  dispensed.^^  We  repeat  it,  therefore, 
that  the  Church  under  both  dispensations  is 
the  same,  because  the  covenant  remains  un- 
changed. 

Having  offered  these  remarks  on  the  po- 
sition in  which  Abraham  and  his  descend- 
ants were  placed  by  the  original  enacting, 
and  afterward  by  the  re-enacting,  of  the  cov- 
enant, we  are  ready  for  the  scriptural  proofs 
afforded  by  the  New  Testament  writers  that 
the  covenant  between  God  and  believers  is 
the  same  under  both  dispensations. 

In  one  of  its  aspects  the  covenant  which 
God  made  with  the  patriarch  was  a  nation- 
al one.  God  promised,  as  we  have  already 
shown,  that  he  would  constitute  his  descend- 
ants his  own  people,  give  them  the  land  of 
Canaan  for  a  habitation,  and  make  them,  as 
far  as  temporal  benefits  were  concerned,  the 
objects  of  his  special  favor.  And  many  in- 
sist that  the  divine  promise  went  no  farther. 
They  strenuously  contend  that  it  is  an  entire 


70  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

mistake  to  suppose  that  Jehovah,  when  he 
made  a  covenant  with  Abraham,  intended 
to  promise  him  and  his  descendants  spiritual 
blessings  on  condition  of  faith  and  obedience. 
And  of  course  they  deny  that  the  kingdom 
of  God,  under  the  old  dispensation  built  on 
this  covenant,  was  one  and  the  same  Church 
with  the  New  Testament  Church. 

WHAT  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT  WEITEES  SAY. 

The  New  Testament  writers,  however, 
teach  that  the  covenant  set  before  Abra- 
ham and  the  Jewish  people  for  their  ac- 
ceptance, and  which  they  all  professed  to 
embrace,  did  not  simply  offer  national  and 
temporal  blessings  on  condition  of  faith  in 
the  divine  promise  to  bestow  such  blessings, 
but  did  also  and  mainly  offer  the  blessings 
of  redemption  on  condition  of  faith  in  the 
Redeemer  to  come,  and  was,  therefore,  the 
covenant  of  grace. 

Paul,  for  example,  teaches  that  the  cove- 
nant with  Abraham  w^as  the  covenant  of 
grace  when,  waiting  to  the  Galatians  (chap, 
iii.),  he  proves  to  them  the  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith. 

The  Galatians,  of  course,  earnestly  desired 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  71 

salvation,  but  they  were  bent  on  seeking  it 
by  works — i.  e.,  by  a  strict  adherence  to  the 
Mosaic  ritual  law  given  at  Mount  Sinai  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years  after  Abraham's 
day,  but  which,  when  the  Redeemer  was  cru- 
cified, was  abrogated.  Paul  admits  that  if 
salvation  is  not  by  faith  it  must  be  by  works, 
because  there  are  only  these  two  methods  of 
being  saved ;  but  he  tells  the  Galatians  that 
it  is  by  faith,  and  by  faith  only,  that  they 
can  be  saved,  and  he  brings  forward  as  a 
strong  argument  God's  covenant  with  Abra- 
ham. He  says  that  to  faithful  Abraham — 
that  is,  to  Abraham  exercising  faith — and 
also  to  those  Gentiles  who  should  believe, 
no  less  than  to  the  Jews,  God  in  covenant 
gave  the  inheritauce  (salvation)  by  promise 
of  pure  grace,  and  in  no  other  way,  and  that 
that  is  inconsistent  with  salvation  being  ob- 
tained by  works  of  any  kind,  since,  ^'if  the 
inheritance  or  salvation  be  of  the  law,  it  is 
no  more  of  promise.''  Gal.  iii.  18.  It  (viz., 
the  covenant  ivith  Abraham,  by  the  terms  of 
which  he  and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
were  promised  a  free  salvation  by  faith)  was 
inconsistent  with  the  bestowment  of  salvation 
on  the  ground  of  obedience  to  the  ceremo- 


72  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

nial  law,  unless  the  ceremonial  law  had  power 
to  disannul  the  Abrahamic  covenant.  This, 
however,  the  apostle  declares  is  impossible. 
Even  a  human  covenant,  if  it  be  ratified,  can- 
not be  disannulled  or  added  to.  Of  course, 
then,  the  covenant  [with  Abraham]  that  was 
confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,  the  law 
which  was  four  hundred  and  thirty -years 
after,  cannot  disannul  that  it  should  make 
the  promise  of  none  effect.  Gal.  iii.  17. 

By  thus  showing  the  Galatians  that  the 
Abrahamic  covenant  was  the  covenant  of 
grace,  and  by  reminding  them  that  it  could 
not  be  annulled,  the  apostle  proves  to  them 
the  uselessness  of  seeking  salvation  through 
obedience  to  the  law. 

Since,  then,  the  Abrahamic  covenant  was 
the  covenant  of  grace,  and  since  that  which 
made  a  man  a  member  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Church  was  his  professing  to  embrace 
the  Abrahamic  covenant,  it  follows  that  all 
Old  Testament  CImrch  members  were  visi- 
ble Church  members  in  consequence  of  pro- 
fessing to  embrace  the  covenant  of  grace. 
Therefore  the  Old  Testament  Church  and  the 
New  Testament  Church  are  the  same  Church. 

We   only  partly  describe  the  Abrahamic 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  73 

covenant  when  we  say  that  it  was  a  prom- 
ise to  give  the  patriarch  and  those  whom  he 
represented  salvation  on  condition  of  faith  in 
a  coming  Redeemer.  It  was  also  a  promise 
to  give  free  salvation  to  people  of  every  sta^ 
tion  and  clime  and  color  on  condition  of 
faith  in  Jesus,  and  that  to  the  very  end  of 
time.  You  cannot,  therefore,  fully  explain 
the  Abrahamic  covenant  without  your  very 
explanation  involving  the  idea  that  from 
Abraham's  day  to  the  end  of  time,  the  Church 
must  always  be  the  same. 

Kead  carefully  the  argument  in  the  third 
chapter  of  Galatians,  which  we  have  thus 
partially  presented,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
apostle  teaches  not  only  that  the  thing  prom- 
ised was  that  inheritance  the  author  of  which 
is  Christ  and  the  condition  of  participating  in 
which  is  faith,  but  also  that  the  thing  prom- 
ised, is  the  inheritance  of  Avhich  all  nations 
are  the  heirs,  and  not  the  Jews  only. 

When  we  ask.  What  was  the  covenant  set 
before  Abraham  and  his  descendants,  and 
which  by  being  circumcised  they  professed 
to  embrace?  the  answer  is,  The  very  same 
which  we  profess  to  embrace  at  the  time  we 
receive  baptism,  when  we  declare  before  men 


74  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

that  we  rest  on  Christ  alone  for  salvation  as 
he  is  offered  in  the  gospel.  This  is  the  teach- 
ing of  Paul's  words  to  the  Galatians  above 
quoted  (Gal.  iii.  15-18).  And  his  words  in 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  verses  of  the 
fourth  chapter  to  the  Romans  contain  the 
same  teaching. 

The  apostle  wished  to  convince  the  Ro- 
mans that  we  are  justified  not  by  works  of 
law,  but  by  faith  only.  And  to  convince 
them  of  it  he  tells  them  expressly  that  this 
was  the  meaning  of  the  terms  of  the  cove- 
nant announced  to  Abraham.  The  covenant 
promise  to  the  patriarch  was  conditioned  on 
faith.  That  promise  cannot  now,  therefore, 
consistently  with  the  divine  fidelity,  be  made 
to  depend  on  obedience  to  the  law,  but  must 
also  in  our  case  depend  on  the  condition  that 
we  have  faith.  Certainly,  says  the  apostle, 
loe  are  saved  by  faith,  and  not  by  works  of 
law,  for,  in  the  case  of  Abraham,  the  prom- 
ise that  he  should  be  the  heir  of  the  world 
was  not  to  him  or  to  his  seed  through  the 
law,  but  through  the  righteousness  of  faith. 
So  that  now,  if  they  which  are  of  the  law 
be  heirs,  faith  is  made  void  and  the  promise 
made  of  none  effect.     Paul  could  not  in  this 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  75 

way  have  argued  for  justification  by  faitli 
alone  from  the  covenant  set  before  Abraham 
and  the  ancient  Jewish  people  for  their  ac- 
ceptance if  that  covenant  had  not  been  the 
covenant  of  grace — i.  e.,  had  not  promised 
salvation  on  condition  of  faith  instead  of 
merely  promising  national  benefits. 

The  promise  to  Abraham,  then,  was  of 
faith.  "And  it  was  of  faith  in  order  that 
it  might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed — to  all  his 
spiritual  children,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles. 
For  the  paternity  of  Abraham  extends  fai 
beyond  the  Jews.  He  is  the  father  of  all 
who  believe.  This,  says  the  apostle,  was  the 
tenor  of  the  original  covenant.  This  was  the 
very  thing  which  God  intended  when  he  said, 
^I  will  make  thee  a  father  of  many  nations.' 
The  terms  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham 
were  not  one  thing  and  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  another:  they  are  one  and  the  same; 
and  therefore,  in  order  to  be  saved,  we  must 
embrace  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham.'' 
And  it  is  required  of  us  that  we  profess  to 
.  embrace  it,  so  that,  making  the  same  profes- 
sion which  the  Jews  did,  we  and  they  are 
members  of  the  same  visible  Church. 

The   covenant,    then,   with    Abraham,    on 


76  THESE   LITTLE   OKES. 

which  the  Church  of  the  old  dispensation 
rested,  was  the  covenant  of  grace.  Its  call 
to  the  sons  of  men,  therefore,  was  the  same 
as  that  which  we  now  recognize  as  the  gospel 
call:  *^ Believe  on  the  Lamb  of  God — only 
believe — and  salvation  is  yours."  The  cov- 
enant, however,  bore  the  visible  sign  and  seal 
of  circumcision,  and  its  ivhole  declaration  was, 
"  He  that  believeth  and  is  circumcised  shall 
be  saved."  Still,  circumcision  did  not  sustain 
the  same  relation  to  salvation  that  faith  sus- 
tained ;  for  as  we  know  that  some  now  are 
saved  who  have  never  been  baptized,  so  we 
cannot  doubt  that  formerly  some  reached 
heaven  who  were  never  circumcised. 

That  the  visible  Church  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation, like  that  of  the  new,  was  built 
on  the  profession  of  faith  in  the  religion  of 
the  gospel  is  evident  from  the  apostle's  dec- 
laration in  Gal.  iii.  8 :  And  the  scripture^ 
joreseeivg  that  God  would  justify  the  heathen 
through  faith,  preached  before  the  gospel  unto 
Abraham,  saying,  In  thee  shall  all  nations  be 
blessed.  Here  Paul  represents  the  covenant 
with  the  patriarch  to  be  the  very  gospel 
which  has  come  to  us.  Is  it  not  strange 
that,  notwithstanding  such  explanatory  dec- 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  77 

laratlons  of  the  New  Testament  writers,  there 
are  those  who  can  insist  that  tlie  Abrahamic 
covenant  was  merely  national  and  entirely 
distinct  from  the  covenant  of  grace?  But 
we  know  why  they  have  adopted  this  view 
of  the  subject.  It  is  because  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  infants  were  included  in  the  cov- 
enant made  with  Abraham,  from  which  it  fol- 
lows that  If  that  covenant  was  the  covenant 
of  grace,  the  covenant  of  grace  includes 
infants — In  other  words,  that  they  can  be 
church  members  and  the  sign  of  church 
membership  can  be  administered  to  them. 

We  see  from  many  passages  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles — as  Acts  Hi.  25,  26;  Acts  xiii. 
32,  33;  Acts  xxvl.  6,  7 — that  the  apostles  ex- 
plain the  promise  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
contained  in  Gen.  xii.  3;  Gen.  xvlii.  18;  Gen. 
xxii.  18;  Gen.  xxvi.  4;  and  Gen.  xxviii.  14 
to  be  the  promise  of  Christ.  This  promise, 
in  fact,  fills  the  Old  Testament.  No  wonder 
that  those  who  were  Israelites  Indeed,  confi- 
dently expected  Christ  and  waited  for  the 
salvation  of  Israel.  These  interpreted  the 
covenant  which  God  made  with  Abraham 
as  promising  pardon  and  the  favor  of  God  on 
condition  of  faith,  and  they  professed  to  exer- 


78  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

cise  this  faith.  As,  therefore,  we  profess  the 
same  faith  and  look  for  the  same  blessings, 
the  Church  of  our  day  and  that  of  the  old 
dispensation  are  one  and  the  same. 

We  have  an  instance  of  a  devout  Jew's  in- 
terpreting the  Abrahamic  covenant  to  be  a 
covenant  promising  Christ  and  redemption 
in  the  exultant  song  of  the  father  of  the 
forerunner :  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Is- 
rael, for  he  hath  visited  and  redeemed  his  peo- 
ple, and  hath  raised  up  a  horn  of  salvation 
for  us  in  the  house  of  his  servant  David;  as 
he  spake  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  .  .  . 
to  perform  the  mercy  promised  to  our  fathers 
and  to  remember  His  holy  covenant  ;  the 

OATH    WHICH    HE    SWARE    TO    OXTR    FATHER 

Abraham,  that  he  would  grant  unto  us  that 
we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  ene- 
mies, might  serve  him  without  fear,  in  holiness 
and  righteousness  before  him,  all  the  days  of 
our  life.  The  original  and  fundamental,  the 
central  and  all-pervading,  promise  was  that 
of  a  personal  Saviour.  The  Old  Testament 
gospel  was  that  such  a  Saviour  should  come. 
The  gospel  of  the  New  Testament  is  that 
he  has  come,  or,  as  Paul  expresses  it  in  the 
synagogue  of  Antioch,  We  declare  unto  you 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  79 

glad  tidings  how  that  the  promise  which  was 
made  unto  the  fathers,  God  hath  fulfilled  the 
same  unto  us  their  children,  in  that  he  hath 
raised  up  Jesus  again. 

As  we  have  said,  this  promise  fills  the  Old 
Testament.  ^'The  ^Yhole  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  nothing  more  than  a  record  of  the 
historical  development  of  the  promise,  ^  In 
thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed/  '^ 

"The  introduction  of  the  heathen  into  the 
covenant  of  God  with  Abraham,  in  relation  to 
his  seed,  was  clearly  predicted.  The  proph- 
ets rejoiced  when  they  saw  the  nations  flock- 
ing like  clouds  or  as  doves,  not  to  the  narrow 
enclosure  of  Judaism,  but  to  the  broad  field 
of  the  Abraham ic  covenant — when  they  saw 
even  Ethiopia  and  the  isles  of  the  sea  stretch- 
ing out  their  hands  to  the  long-promised  seed. 
And  the  apostles  take  up  the  same  strain  and 
tell  the  people — Gentiles  and  Jews — that  God 
had  fulfilled  the  covenant  made  with  Abra- 
ham in  that  he  had  raised  up  his  Son  Jesus 
and  sent  him  to  bless  them. 

"In  the  New  Testament,  therefore,  the 
constant  representation  is  that  the  Gentiles  are 
made  fellow-citizens  of  the  saints  and  of  the 


80  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

household  of  God ;  they  are  introduced,  not 
into  the  covenant  from  Mount  Sinai,  but  into 
the  earlier,  broader  covenant  made  with  the 
fathers.  They  were  not  planted  as  a  new 
tree,  but  grafted  into  the  old  stock.  They 
did  not  bear  the  root,  but  the  root  them." 

THE    CHURCH    UNDER    BOTH    DISPENSATIONS 
THE   SAME    OLIVE    TREE. 

It  is  plain,  from  the  apostle's  discussion  of 
the  great  question  concerning  the  rejection  of 
the  Jews,  the  vocation  of  the  Gentiles  and 
the  future  restoration  of  the  Jews,  that  the 
Church  under  both  dispensations  is  the  same 
OLIVE  TREE.  Rom.  ii.  17-24.  To  borrow 
the  ener2:etic  words  of  Dr.  Mason  in  his 
essay  on  the  Church  of  God:  "What  was 
the  *  good  olive  tree^  from  which  the  Jewish 
branches  were  ^  broken  off,'  while  the  Gen- 
tiles were  grafted  in  ?  Evidently,  the  visible 
Church  organized  under  the  covenant  made 
with  Abraham.  There  was  no  other  from 
which  the  Jews  could  be  cast  off.  The  cere- 
monial law  was  superseded.  It  was  no  ex- 
cision at  all  to  be  cut  off  from  a  Church 
which  did  not  exist,  nor  could  the  Gentiles 
be  introduced  into  it.     But  what  says  the 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  81 

apostle?  That  the  'olive  tree'  was  cut  down 
or  rooted  upf  That  it  had  withered,  trunk 
and  branch?  Or  was  no  longer  under  the 
care  of  the  divine  Planter?  Nothing  like 
it !  He  asserts  the  continuance  of  the  olive 
tree  in  life  and  vigor,  the  excision  of  some 
worthless  branches  and  the  insertion  of  new 
ones  in  their  stead.  'Thou,'  says  he,  address- 
ing the  Gentile,  'partakest  of  the  root  and 
fatness  of  the  olive  tree/  Translate  this  into 
less  figurative  language,  and  what  is  the  im- 
port? That  the  Church  of  God,  his  visi- 
ble Church,  taken  into  peculiar  relations  to 
himself  by  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  subsists 
"without  injury  through  the  change  of  dispen- 
sation and  of  members.  Branches,  indeed, 
may  be  cut  oflP,  but  the  rooted  trunk  stands 
firm,  and  other  branches  occupy  the  places  of 
those  w^hich  are  lopped  away.  The  Jews  were 
cast  out  of  the  Church,  but  the  Church  per- 
ished not  with  them.  There  was  still  left  the 
trunk  of  the  olive  tree;  there  was  still  fatness 
in  its  roots ;  it  stands  in  the  same  fertile  soil, 
the  covenant  of  God  ;  and  the  admission  of 
the  Gentiles  into  the  room  of  the  excommu- 
nicated Jews  makes  them  a  part  of  that  cov- 
enanted Church,  as  branches  grafted  into  the 

6 


82  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

olive  tree  and  flourishing  in  its  fatness  are 
identified  with  the  tree.  It  is  impossible  for 
ideas  conceived  in  the  mind  of  man  or  uttered 
in  his  language  to  assert  more  peremptorily 
the  continuance  of  the  Church  under  that 
very  covenant  which  was  established  with 
Abraham  and  his  seed.'' 

The  jailer  of  Philippi,  the  eunuch  whose 
question  was,  ^'What  doth  hinder  me  to  be 
baptized  V^  and  all  others  who  by  their  own 
desire  are  received  into  the  Church,  promise 
faith  and  obedience  to  Christ.  But  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Old  Testament  Church  made  the 
same  promise  and  profession.  This  being  the 
case,  that  Church  was  as  truly  a  spiritual  so- 
ciety as  is  the  New  Testament  Church.  This 
is  by  some  denied.  They  contend  that  it  was 
merely  an  external  society,  membership  in 
which  depended  on  natural  birth,  and  not  at 
all  on  an  engagement  to  discharge  inward 
spiritual  duties.  We  have  sufficiently  con- 
sidered the  views  of  these  objectors. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  83 


Christ's  kingdom  is  the  same  as  the 
church  of  old,  notwithstanding  it 
is  now  distinct  from  the  state. 

There  are,  however,  others  who  are  wiHing 
to  admit  that  the  kingdom  of  God  before  the 
advent  consisted  of  professors  of  the  true  re- 
ligion, but  who  urge  that,  since  it  was  also 
a  State  and  had  a  national  character,  it  is 
wrong  to  call  it  exactly  the  same  Church  as 
that  of  the  new  dispensation.  It  is  not  now, 
as  it  then  was,  a  Church  and  a  nation  at  the 
same  time.  How,  then,  can  it  now  be  exact- 
ly what  it  was  of  old  ?  Membership  did,  in- 
deed, depend  upon  the  profession  of  the 
soul's  faith  in  Christ  as  a  Saviour,  but  per- 
sons had  likewise  to  promise  the  performance 
of  ceremonial  observances  and  of  the  duties 
of  national  citizenship,  whereas,  in  New  Tes- 
tament times,  only  the  profession  of  faith  in 
Jesus  and  promise  of  allegiance  to  him  are 
required. 

This  objection  would  be  sound  if  it  really 
followed,  as  a  consequence  of  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  Church's  ')iational  aspect,  that  its 
essence  was  at  once  changed.     You  are  a  per- 


84  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

son,  consisting  of  sonl  and  body.  When  you 
die  you  drop  the  body,  and  only  your  soul 
remains,  but,  for  all  that,  you  are  exactly 
the  same  "person  you  were  before,  becanse 
your  personality  resides,  not  in  your  body, 
but  in  your  soul.  In  like  manner,  the  es- 
sence of  the  Church  of  old  did  not  reside 
in  those  things  belonging  to  it  in  virtue  of 
which  it  had  a  national  character;  and  there- 
fore, though  at  the  advent  everything  pertain- 
ing to  it  which  had  constituted  it  a  national 
society,  a  commonwealth,  disappeared,  it  nev- 
ertheless continued  to  be  the  same  Church  it 
had  been  before  the  coming  of  Christ. 

Though  the  Bible  does  not  distinguish  two 
Abrahamic  covenants,  yet  we  may  make  the 
distinction  if  we  do  so  merely  for  the  sake  of 
perspicuity  and  convenience.  We  may  say 
that  there  was  a  spiritual  covenant  relating 
to  Christ  and  a  national  covenant  relating 
to  the  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 
Now,  let  us  not  so  confound  the  Church,  built 
on  the  spiritual  covenant,  with  the  nation, 
which  rested  on  the  national  covenant,  as  to 
say  that  the  Church  in  these  New  Testament 
times  is  of  a  different  nature  from  the  Old 
Testament   Church.      This   would    betray  a 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  85 

strange  confusion  of  ideas.  Let  us  not  fall 
into  the  error  of  supposing  that  when  the 
new  dispensation  began,  the  Church  itself  dis- 
a})peared  because  its  framework  was  removed. 
The  Hebrew  commonwealth  and  ritual  were 
indeed  abolished,  but  tlie  Church  did  not  dis- 
appear;  it  did  not  come  to  an  end.  It  re- 
mained. Looking  at  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
it  existed  before  the  advent,  we  see  a  ^^  Church 
in  the  form  of  a  nation  ;'^  but  its  being  this 
did  not  hinder  its  finding  its  own  continuance 
in  the  Church  which  has  existed  since  the 
advent,  even  though  since  the  advent  noth- 
ing of  the  national  character  which  once  per- 
tained to  it  has  been  perpetuated.  It  not 
only  remained  after  its  old  form  had  disap- 
peared, but,  we  had  almost  said,  it  became 
the  Church  more  intensely  than  ever.  Un- 
der the  old  dispensation  it  was  in  a  state  of 
tutelage;  it  was  burdened  with  a  hierarchy 
and  a  pompous  ritual;  it  was  restricted  to 
one  nation ;  but  when  Christ  came,  its  tram- 
mels were  thrown  off.  It  became  capable  of 
unlimited  enlargement.  The  Gentiles  were 
at  once  introduced  into  the  covenant  made 
with  the  fathers,  and  became  fellow-citizens 
of  the  saints  and  of  the  household  of  God. 


86  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

Thus  the  Church  continued  to  be  the  same 
notwithstanding  its  old  form  went  out  of  ex- 
istence. The  change  in  it  which  took  place 
upon  its  losing  its  national  character  w^as  not 
an  essential  one;  it  was  only  accidental.  In 
fact,  its  own  preservation  in  that  age  of  the 
w^orld  was  just  the  end  contemplated  in  its 
having  the  national  form,  which  until  the 
advent  of  Christ  it  possessed. 

Our  heavenly  Father  was  intent  on  hav- 
ing the  true  religion  preserved  until  Christ 
should  come.  His  way  of  doing  this  was  to 
make  "his  nation  a  Church  and  his  Church 
a  nation."  But  when  Christ  came,  this  w^all 
of  partition  between  the  Jews  and  Gentiles 
was  broken  down  in  order  that  all  nations 
might  be  embraced  in  the  Church,  according 
to  what  Paul  says :  Is  he  the  God  of  the  Jews 
only  f  Is  he  not  also  of  the  Gentiles  f  Yes, 
of  the  Gentiles  also."^  Surely  a  change,  the 
only  object  and  result  of  which  was  to  re- 
move limitations  and  introduce  men  of  all 
nations  into  the  fold,  cannot  make  the  Church, 
since  the  coming  of  Christ,  different  from  the 
Church  of  the  old  dispensation.  There  hav- 
ing been  no  change  in  the  covenant,  the 
*  Eom.  iii.  29. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  87 

Church   under   both   dispensations   is    iden- 
tical. 

In  the  next  chapter  it  is  proved  that  infants 
were  members  of  the  Church  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation by  God^s  command. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SECOND  STEP  OF  THE  ARGUMENT.— THE  AN- 
SWERS TO  THIS  ARGUMENT  WHICH  HAVE 
BEEN  ATTEMPTED,  SHOWN  TO  BE  INCON- 
CLUSIVE.— THE    CONCLUSION    REACHED. 

It  was  sliown  in  tlie  ])rece(ling  chapter 
that  the  Church  under  the  old  dispensation 
and  the  Cliurcli  under  the  new  dispensation 
are  one  and  the  same  Church.  AVe  advance 
now  a  step  farther,  and  maintain  that  infants 
were  members  of  the  Church  under  the  old 
dispensation. 

Abraham's  circumcision  confirmed  to  him 
the  fact  that  God  regarded  and  treated  him 
as  righteous  in  the  sight  of  the  law.  This 
is  the  sense  in  which  it  was  a  seal.  When 
a  document  is  drawn  up  for  two  parties  to  a 
contract  to  sign,  a  seal  is  affixed  to  the  doc- 
ument, and  its  intent  is  to  show  that  upon 
each  party  the  contract  is  binding.  Abra- 
ham's circumcision  was  a  seal  by  which  God, 
in  his  infinite  condescension,  bound  himself 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  89 

to  give  him  the  blessings  of  redemption  so 
long  as  the  patriarch  exercised  faith — to  give 
him  at  death  heaven  itself  should  faith  be 
found  in  his  heart.  And  Abraham,  on  his 
part,  bound  himself  by  being  circumcised 
to  obey  and  serve  God  as  the  God  of  his 
redemption. 

What  was  true  of  Abraham's  circumcision 
was  true  of  Isaac's.  Isaac,  of  course,  under- 
stood the  nature  and  design  of  the  circum- 
cision which  he  had  received  in  his  infancy 
— that  in  case  he  exercised  faith  it  was  a  seal 
to  him  also  of  spiritual  blessings.  And  in 
every  case  during  the  whole  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation in  which  the  rite  was  administer- 
ed it  meant  precisely  what  it  meant  in  Abra- 
ham's and  Isaac's  case.  Down  to  the  very 
crucifixion  of  Christ,  when  the  veil  was  rent, 
no  one  was  ever  circumcised  without  the  sac- 
rament having  the  same  significance  it  had 
at  first.  Circumcision  was  a  seal  of  spiritual 
blessings ;  it  was  a  badge  of  church  member- 
ship. To  be  circumcised  was  to  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  visible  Church. 

Now,  God  commanded  his  people  to  cir- 
cumcise their  infants ;  therefore  God  com- 
manded his  people  to  recognize  their  infants 


90  THESE   LITTLE  ONES. 

as  church  members;  to  regard  and  treat  them 
as  such ;  to  give  tliem  the  privileges  which 
of  right  belong  to  all  who  are  members  of 
the  visible  Church.  But  the  Cliurch  was 
the  same  under  the  old  dispensation  that  it 
is  under  the  new ;  therefore  it  is  the  will  of 
God  that  the  infants  of  believers,  under  the 
new  dispensation  also,  should  be  recognized 
and  treated  as  Church  members. 

Here  the  argument  would  be  ended  were 
it  not  that  there  are  some  who  boldly  deny- 
that  circumcision  was  a  seal  of  spiritual  bless- 
ings. They  see  that  if  they  admit  this  they 
will  be  obliged  to  admit  that  infants  were 
regarded  and  treated  as  members  of  the 
Church  under  the  old  economy,  considered  as 
a  spiritual  society,  since  men  might  as  well 
insist  that  no  such  book  as  the  Bible  exists 
as  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  by  God's  com- 
mand the  infants  of  parents  who  descended 
from  Abraham,  and  likewise  the  infants  of 
those  who  joined  themselves  to  the  people  of 
the  God  of  Israel,  were  circumcised.  They, 
therefore,  stoutly  deny  that  circumcision  was 
a  badge  of  membership  in  a  spiritual  society 
and  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ  by 
which  men  are  justified. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  91 

Our  position,  then,  will  be  established  (the 
Church  membership  of  infants  under  the  old 
dispensation),  if  we  prove  that  circumcision 
was  a  seal  of  the  covenant  which  promised 
spiritual  blessings.  This,  therefore,  we  pro- 
ceed to  prove,  premising  that  what  w^e  hold 
is  not  that  the  membership  of  infants  was 
constituted  by  their  circumcision,  but  that 
their  circumcision  recognized  their  birth- 
right membership  as  those  who  sustained  a 
filial  relation  to  parents  who  professed  the 
true  religion. 

1.  Our  first  argument  to  prove  that  cir- 
cumcision was  a  seal  of  the  covenant  which 
promised  spiritual  blessings,  is  that  the  Abra- 
hamic  covenant  was  not  distinct  from  the 
covenant  of  grace,  but  was  the  same  thing 
with  it.  Circumcision,  then,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  the  seal  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  was 
the  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

To  this,  however,  some  reply  that,  while 
circumcision  was  the  seal  of  the  Abrahamic 
covenant  viewed  in  its  national  aspect,  it  was 
not  the  seal  of  the  entire  Abrahamic  cove- 
nant ;  it  was  not  the  seal  of  the  Abrahamic 
covenant  vieioed  as  referring  to  Christ.  All 
that  a  person  professed  (say  these  opposers) 


92  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

when  he  was  circumcised  was  that  he  em- 
braced the  covenant  in  its  national  aspect, 
and  circumcision  only  secured  his  interest 
in  the  national  promises.  And  viewed  as 
a  badge  or  mark,  it  was  only  tlie  mark  of 
the  nationality  of  Abraham's  descendants, 
and  was  not  intended  to  mark  them  as  of 
the  number  of  God's  professing  people. 

Thus  do  these  opposers  entirely  separate 
the  national  from  the  spiritual  aspect  of  the 
Abrahamic  covenant. 

But  the  sophistry  of  this  reasoning  will 
be  apparent  when  we  look  at  the  case  of 
Ishmael.  Circumcision  did  not  secure  Ids 
interest  in  the  national  promises,  for  by 
God's  express  appointment  he  had  no  in- 
terest whatever  in  the  promise  of  the  land 
of  Canaan.  In  his  case,  certainly,  circum- 
cision was  a  seal  of  the  covenant  in  its  spir- 
itual aspect.  "  When  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful received  the  great  promise  of  redemption 
and  bound  himself  to  take  Jehovah  to  be  his 
God,  he  made  this  profession  and  engagement 
for  Ishmael  as  well  as  for  liimself.  Isaac 
made  the  same  profession  and  covenant  for 
Esau  as  he  did  for  Jacob.  Ishmael  and 
Esau  were  as  much  bound  to  take  Jehovah 


*  THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  93 

to  be  their  God  and  to  look  for  salvation 
through  the  promised  seed  as  were  Isaac  and 
Jacob.'^ 

Thus  the  spiritual  element  might  be  pro- 
fessedly embraced  by  those  who  had  no  part 
in  the  temporal  blessings  of  Abraham.  A 
man  might  be  circumcised  with  reference 
to  the  spiritual  covenant  exclusive  of  the 
national,  but  none  could  be  circumcised  with 
reference  to  the  national  covenant  exclusive 
of  the  spiritual.  None  could  enroll  them- 
selves among  the  children  of  Abraham  and 
claim  as  his  descendants  a  part  of  the  nation- 
al inheritance  without  at  the  same  time  en- 
tering into  covenant  with  God  with  reference 
to  spiritual  blessings.  "By  the  very  act  of 
circumcision  he  took  God  to  be  his  God  and 
promised  to  be  one  of  his  people — i.  e.,  to 
believe  what  God  had  taught,  trust  in  what 
he  had  promised  and  do  what  he  had  com- 
manded. A  Jew  who  did  not  thus  profess 
allegiance  to  God,  who  renounced  all  interest 
in  the  promise  of  the  Messiah,  was  an  impos- 
sibility. By  being  a  Jew  he  professed  the 
wdiole  Jewish  faith  and  promised  fidelity 
to  the  whole  religion  of  the  Hebrews.  No 
child  was  ever  presented  by  his  parent  for 


94  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

circumcision  in  whose  behalf  a  profession  of 
faith  in  the  true  religion  and  fidelity  to  the 
true  God  were  not  thereby  made.'^ 

Our  argument,  then,  remains  untouched 
that  circumcision,  by  being  the  seal  of  the 
Abrahamic  covenant,  was  the  seal  of  the 
covenant  of  grace.  Whether,  therefore,  it 
was  administered  to  infants  or  to  adults,  it 
was  that  by  which  the  recipient  bound  him- 
self to  serve,  trust  and  obey  the  God  of  re- 
demption, and  by  which  God,  in  infinite  con- 
descension, bound  himself  to  bless  the  re- 
cipient with  all  spiritual  blessings  on  con- 
dition of  faith.  He  who  received  circum- 
cision, therefore,  was  in  the  visible  Church, 
and  yet  infants  were  circumcised. 

2.  We  have  before  us  for  consideration  the 
covenant  which  God  made  with  the  members 
of  the  Jewish  Church,  with  its  promises,  and 
we  see  that  the  sign  of  circumcision  was 
attached  to  it.  The  question  is.  What  kind 
of  benefits  did  that  covenant,  to  which  cir- 
cumcision was  attached,  promise?  The  ques- 
tion will  be  answered  when  we  learn  what 
was  symbolized  by  its  sign.  If  the  sign  of 
the  Abrahamic  covenant  symbolized  regen- 
eration— inw^ard  purification — then  the  cov- 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  95 

enant  itself  (viewed  in  that  aspect  in  which 
it  is  admitted  that  it  included  infants)  p^om- 
ised  regeneration — inward  purification — i.  e., 
was  the  covenant  of  grace. 

Now,  that  circumcision  was  the  sign  of 
regeneration  the  following  passages,  which 
speak  of  it  as  the  symbol  of  the  circum- 
cision of  the  heart,  the  symbol  of  the  re- 
moval of  the  defilement  of  our  nature,  etc., 
plainly  show :  "  In  whom  also  ye  are  cir- 
cumcised with  the  circumcision  made  with- 
out hands  in  putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins 
of  the  flesh."  Col.  ii.  11.  "I  will  circum- 
cise your  heart  and  the  heart  of  your  chil- 
dren to  love  the  Lord  thy  God."  Deut.  xxx. 
6.  "  The  Lord  had  a  delight  in  thy  fathers 
to  love  them,  and  he  chose  their  seed  after 
them,  even  you,  above  all  people,  as  it  is  this 
day.  Circumcise,  therefore,  the  foreskin  of 
your  heart."  Deut.  x.  15,  16;  see  also  Jer. 
iv.  14.  An  uncircumcised  heart,  therefore, 
is  a  heart  spiritually  corrupt  and  unclean. 
Lev.  xxvi.  41 ;  Jer.  ix.  26  ;  Acts  vii.  51.  In 
Rom.  ii.  29  the  apostle  says  that  the  true  cir- 
cumcision was  that  which  the  outward  cere- 
mony signified.  It  is  that  which  is  inward, 
of  the  heart,  by  the  Holy  Spirit.     This  ex- 


96  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

plains  Phil.  iii.  3 :  "  We  are  the  circumcis- 
ion Avhich  worship  God  in  the  Spirit,  and 
rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus/^  etc.  Thus  circum- 
cision had  a  spiritual  import.  It  signified 
inward  purification.  As  the  haptism  of  the 
Spwit  is  symbolized  by  the  baptism  with 
water,  so  the  circumcision  of  the  heart  (in- 
ward purification,  cleansing  from  sin)  was 
symbolized  by  the  circumcision  of  the  flesh. 
Circumcision,  therefore,  being  the  symbol  of 
regeneration,  the  covenant  of  which  it  was 
the  badge  was  the  covenant  of  grace.  That, 
therefore,  which  was  the  badge  of  the  cove- 
nant of  grace  (which  covenant  God  in  a  vis- 
ible manner  made  with  his  people) — in  other 
words,  that  which  was  a  badge  of  Church 
membership — was  applied  to  infants. 

3.  The  ground  taken,  that  circumcision  was 
not  the  sign  of  any  spiritual  covenant,  but 
that  it  was  the  sign  exclusively  of  the  nation- 
al covenant  which  God  made  with  the  He- 
brews, is  totally  irreconcilable  with  the  fact 
that  the  people  were  not  formed  into  a  nation 
until  hundreds  of  years  after  circumcision  was 
enjoined.  It  by  no  means  had  its  origin  and 
commencement  when  their  code  of  laws  was 
given  them  on  Mount  Sinai.     It  was  to  the 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  97 

covenant  which  God  made  with  Abraham, 
whom  the  Jews  called  their  father,  that  the 
sign  of  circumcision  was  attached — the  cov- 
enant which  spake  of  redemption  through 
Christ. 

4.  The  apostle,  in  Rom.  iv.  11,  expressly 
asserts  that  circumcision  was  the  seal  of  the 
covenant  which  promised  salvation  on  con- 
dition of  faith — i.  e.y  of  the  covenant  of 
grace.  For  his  words  in  that  passage  are, 
"Abraham  received  the  sign  of  circumcision, 
a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which 
he  had,  being  yet  uncircumcised."  The  at- 
tempt has  indeed  been  made  to  get  over  this 
by  this  evasion — namely,  that  the  apostle 
only  means  that  to  Abraham  circumcision 
was  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith,  but 
not  to  others.  This,  however,  is  inconsistent 
with  Paul's  argument  in  the  context,  in  which 
he  tells  the  Jews  that  circumcision  was  not 
intended  to  be  the  ground  of  justification,  but 
to  give  the  assurance  of  God's  favor  to  all 
those  who  believe.  And  yet,  although  it  was 
in  this  sense  a  seal — although  it  was  a  seal 
and  badge  of  Church  membership — it  was 
administered  to  infants. 

The  question  has  been  asked  whether  the 

7 


98  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

Jews  must  not  have  wondered  why  the  seal 
of  the  covenant  was  so  ordered  as  to  be  ad- 
ministered only  to  males.  Probably  they 
understood  that  females  were  represented  in 
the  males.  They  could  not  have  inquired 
why  females  had  no  place  given  them  in 
the  visible  Church,  for  they  knew  that  they 
had  such  a  place  given  them.  Their  po- 
sition as  church  members  by  right  of  birth 
Avas  well  understood.  In  this  respect  they 
and  male  children  were  treated  alike.  The 
Jews  well  knew  that  it  was  God's  will  that 
parents  should  represent  their  children,  ac- 
cording to  which  principle  the  parent  makes 
the  same  profession  for  all  his  children  which 
he  makes  for  himself,  so  that,  if  a  parent  en- 
ters into  covenant  with  God,  he  covenants 
also  for  his  children. 

We  know  the  Jews'  construction  of  the 
intent  and  requirement  of  the  law,  and  that 
all  Hebrew  children  (male  and  female)  were 
incorporated  into  tlie  Church.  Even  among 
the  Jews  of  the  old  dispensation  baptism  was 
in  use.  And  when  a  Gentile  became  a  prose- 
lyte, all  the  females  in  his  family  were  bap- 
tized, while  baptism  was  superadded  to  cir- 
cumcision in  the  case  of  males.     It  was  thus 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  99 

evident  that  females  were  regarded  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  and  entitled  to  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  covenant. 

Since,  then,  infants  were  by  God's  command 
members  of  the  visible  Church  under  the  old 
economy,  and  since  the  Church  was  the  same 
under  the  old  that  it  is  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation, infants  under  the  new  dispensa- 
tion are  also  church  members. 

We,  however,  repeat  what  we  have  already 
said — that  in  asserting  the  church  member- 
ship of  infants  we  do  not  assert  their  regen- 
eration, nor  do  we  absolutely  affirm  that  they 
are  entitled  to  be  recognized  as  church  mem- 
bers because  they  have  given  evidence  that 
they  are  new  creatures  which  satisfies  church 
officers. 

Suppose  that  in  conversing  with  a  friend 
about  Mr.  B.  I  tell  my  friend  that  Mr.  B. 
is  a  member  of  the  Church.  I  do  not  there- 
by affirm  that  he  is  regenerated,  nor  do  I 
even  affirm  that  he  is  one  who  was  received 
into  the  Church  because  the  church  officers 
were  satisfied  in  their  minds,  upon  exam- 
ining him,  that  he  has  been  regenerated.  I 
only  say  that  as  Mr.  B.  intelligently  professes 
to  have  entered  into  covenant  with  Christ  in 


100  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

the  secresy  of  his  soul — in  other  words,  pro- 
fesses that  he  has  faith  in  Jesus — and  that  as 
he  does  this  without  there  being  anything  in 
his  life  to  contradict  his  profession,  he  has  a 
right  to  be  regarded  and  treated  as  a  member 
of  the  Church,  and  all  are  bound  to  recog- 
nize his  right.  Nothing  more  is  necessary 
to  give  an  adult  a  right  to  be  regarded  and 
treated  as  a  church  member  than  his  making 
a  credible  profession.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  we  should  feel  satisfied  that  he  is  a  re- 
newed man.  And  in  like  manner  it  is  not 
necessary  that  we  should  feel  satisfied  in  our 
minds  that  the  infants  of  believers  are  regen- 
erated before  they  can  have  a  right  to  be  re- 
garded as  church  members.  Without  our 
knowing  whether  they  are  actually  renewed 
or  not,  they  are  members  of  the  visible 
Church  when  their  right  to  be  regarded  and 
treated  as  such  is  recognized  in  consequence 
of  their  filial  relation  to  a  parent  who  is  a 
professor  of  religion.  In  all  cases  a  parent, 
when  he  lays  hold  of  the  covenant  for  him- 
self, lays  hold  of  it  for  his  child  also;  and 
it  is  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  child  is 
included  in  the  parent's  act  until  the  con- 
trary appears — that  is,  until  the  child  evi- 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  101 

dently  intends  to  refuse  to  ratify  the  parent's 
act. 

To  assume  that  infants  are  savingly  in- 
cluded in  the  covenant  embraced  by  their 
believing  parents,  is  not  to  assume  that  they 
are  now  actually  regenerated,  but  it  is  to  pro- 
ceed on  the  assumption  that  they  belong  to 
the  invisible  Church,*  and  that  if  those  who 
have  the  charo-e  of  them  are  faithful  to  them 
they  will  hereafter  give  both  their  parents 
and  the  Chnrch  every  reason  for  believing 
that  they  are  the  subjects  of  a  work  of  grace. 

Our  doctrine,  then,  is  not  that  the  infants 
of  believing  parents  are  members  of  the 
Church  because  they  are  regenerated.  Ac- 
tual regeneration  is  not  a  sine  qua  non  to 
membership  in  the  visible  Church.  It  is, 
however,  to  be  presumed  that  the  infants  of 
God's  people  are  at  least  of  the  elect — in 
other  words,  are  the  objects  of  God's  eter- 
nal love — and  so  are  in  the  invisible  Church, 
although  we  do  not  know  that  they  are;  and 
so,  of  course,  it  is  also  to  be  presumed  that 
they  will  be  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 

*  By  the  invisible  Church  is  meant,  be  it  remembered, 
"the  whole  number  that  have  been,  are  or  shall  be,  gath- 
ered into  one  under  Christ,  the  Head  thereof." 


102  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

if  they  are  not  already.  It  is  because  they 
are  members  of  Christ's  visible  body,  in  the 
sense  which  we  have  now  (as  we  hope)  made 
clear,  that  they  are  baptized.  They  are  mem- 
bers by  birth,  and  baptism  is  the  badge  of  an 
already-existing  church  membership.  If  they 
are  members  of  Christ's  visible  body  in  the 
sense  explained,  then,  although  they  cannot 
now  perform  functions  or  enjoy  privileges 
proper  only  to  riper  years  and  intelligent 
piety,  yet  it  will  be  their  duty  and  privi- 
lege to  come  to  the  Lord's  table  on  reach- 
ing years  of  discretion. 

The  preceding  argument  to  prove  infant 
church  membership  (in  the  sense  explained), 
derived  from  the  fact  that  infants  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  under  the  old  economy,  is 
not  new.  It  is  old.  And  yet,  though  it  has 
often  been  advanced,  it  has  never  been  an- 
swered. Attempts  to  answer  it  have  indeed 
been  made,  but  they  have  never  been  suc- 
cessful. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  that  the  law  of 
infant  church  membership  has  fulfilled  its  spe- 
cified term  of  time ;  that  it  has  expired  by 
limitation;  that  it  ceased  to  operate  when  the 
old  temporary  economy  passed  away;  that,  be- 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  103 

Ion 2:1  n 2:  to  the  Mosaic  ritual  law,  it  was  neces- 
sarily  abolished  when  that  was  abolished. 

But  infant  church  membership  did  not 
have  its  origin  in  the  ceremonial  law.  It 
was  established  long  before  Moses,  even 
when  the  visible  Church  was  established — 
that  is,  when  God  made  his  covenant  with 
Abraham.  Neither  the  institution  nor  the 
abroration  of  the  ceremonial  law  in  the  least 
affected  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  and  it  is  in 
that  covenant  that  the  charter  of  the  visi- 
ble Church,  as  an  aggregate  of  families,  is 
found.  All  this  we  have  already  shown. 
If  infant  church  membership  was  never 
made  a  part  of  any  merely  temporary  econ- 
omy, it  cannot  have  passed  away.  The  fam- 
ily is  still  the  unit  of  the  Church. 

It  is  maintained  by  others  that  the  con- 
ditions of  church  membership  have  been  so 
changed  from  what  they  were  before  the  ad- 
vent that  the  exclusion  of  infants  from  the 
Christian  Church  is  the  necessary  result. 
Before  the  advent  the  conditions  of  member- 
ship were  such  that  both  the  regenerate  and 
the  unregenerate  could  possess  them,  whereas, 
since  the  advent,  the  conditions  can  only  be 
possessed  by  the  regenerate.     Therefore,  al- 


104  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

though,  under  the  old  economy,  the  filial  re- 
lation to  a  parent  who  was  a  professor  of  re- 
ligion might  easily  have  been  a  condition  of 
membership,  it  cannot  be  such  in  the  Church 
that  now  is,  since  no  mortal  can  tell  whether 
an  infant  of  a  professor  is  regenerate  or  not. 

But  the  assertion  that  there  has  been  a 
change  in  the  terms  of  admission  into  the 
Church  is  altogether  gratuitous.  No  change 
has  ever  been  revealed.  As  the  terms  under 
the  old  dispensation  were  a  credible  profes- 
sion of  faith  in  the  true  religion  ;  a  promise 
of  obedience ;  and  submission  to  the  appoint- 
ed rite  of  initiation,  so  under  the  new  they 
are  nothing  more  than  a  credible  profession  of 
faith,  the  promise  of  obedience  to  Christ  and 
submission  to  baptism  as  the  rite  of  initia- 
tion. In  these  New  Testament  times,  there- 
fore, as  was  the  case  under  the  former  econ- 
omy, both  the  regenerate  and  the  unregenerate 
may  possess  the  requisite  conditions  of  admis- 
sion into  the  visible  Church.  "Every  sin- 
cere Israelite  really  received  Jehovah  as  his 
God  and  relied  upon  all  his  promises,  and 
especially  upon  the  promise  of  redemption 
through  the  seed  of  Abraham.  He  not 
only  bound  himself  to  obey  the  law  of  God 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  105 

as  then  revealed,  but  sincerely  endeavored 
to  keep  all  his  commandments.  Those  who 
were  Israelites  only  in  name  or  form,  or,  as 
the  apostle  expresses  it,  were  Jews  outward- 
ly, made  the  same  professions  and  engagements^ 
but  did  so  only  with  the  lips,  and  not  with 
the  heart.  If  any  from  among  the  heathen 
assayed  to  enter  the  congregation  of  the 
Lord,  they  were  received  upon  the  terms 
above  specified  and  to  a  place  equal  to  (and 
in  some  cases  better  than)  that  of  sons  and 
daughters.  If  any  Israelite  renounced  the 
religion  of  his  fathers,  he  was  cut  off  from 
among  the  people.  All  this  is  true  in  reefer- 
ence  to  the  Church  that  now  is.'' 

Some  there  are  who  insist  that  Christ  gave 
a  command  no  longer  to  consider  the  chil- 
dren of  believers  as  members  of  the  Church. 
They  admit  that  he  did  not  do  this  in  express 
terms,  but  they  maintain  that  such  a  com- 
mand is  implied  in  the  institution  by  him 
of  baptism  just  before  his  ascension.  They 
maintain  that  when  Christ  instituted  this 
sacrament,  saying,  "  He  that  believeth  and 
is  baptized  shall  be  saved,"  he  taught  that 
under  the  new  dispensation  none  are  to  be 
baptized — i.  e.,  be  recognized  as  church  mem- 


106  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

bers — except  such  as  are  capable  of  believing. 
He,  however,  taught  no  such  thing,  unless 
he  also  taught  that  none  are  to  be  saved  ex- 
cept such  as  are  capable  of  believing,  for  his 
words  are  just  as  truly  "He  that  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved  "  as  they  are  "  He  that  believeth 
shall  be  saved."  The  truth  is,  his  words  had 
no  reference  to  infants.  It  is  not  of  them 
that  he  requires  profession  of  faith  in  order 
to  baptism,  but  of  adults. 

That  our  Lord  did  not  design  to  teach  us, 
when  he  instituted  baptism,  that  under  the 
new  dispensation  the  law  of  infant  church 
membership  is  annulled,  is  also  plain  froui 
the  consideration  that  his  words,  "  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,''  no 
more  prove  that  only  adults  capable  of  be- 
lieving are  to  be  baptized,  and  thus  recog- 
nized as  church  members,  than  the  decla- 
ration of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  in  Old 
Testament  times,  "He  that  believeth  and  is 
circumcised  shall  be  saved,"  proves  that  only 
adults  capable  of  believing  were  to  be  cir- 
cumcised. It  will  not  do,  therefore,  to  insist 
that  we  may  properly  infer  from  the  words 
of  Christ,  when  he  instituted  the  sacrament 
of  baptism,  that   the   law  of  infant  church 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  107 

membership  was  by  him  repealed.  And  as 
no  such  inference  could  have  been  drawn 
from  Christ's  words  by  the  apostles  any  more 
than  by  us,  we  know  what  course  the  apostles 
must  have  pursued  in  their  labors  to  build 
up  the  Church.  They  had  been  brought  up 
to  look  upon  the  infants  of  those  who  pro- 
fessed the  true  religion  as  church  members, 
this  having  always  been  the  doctrine  and 
practice  of  the  whole  Jewish  Church  from 
the  time  of  Abraham.  They,  moreover,  rec- 
ognized it  to  be  the  law  of  God,  just  as  other 
Jews  did,  that  whenever  a  Gentile  was  con- 
verted and  embraced  the  true  religion,  he 
was  bound  to  embrace  it  for  his  children  as 
well  as  for  himself,  they  being  regarded  as 
members  of  the  religious  community  to  which 
the  parent  joined  himself. 

The  apostles,  being  imbued  with  this  idea 
and  entertaining  no  thought  suggested  by  the 
words  of  Christ  of  anything  different,  are 
by  him  commanded  to  devote  themselves  to 
the  work  of  establishing  his  kingdom,  pla- 
cing the  badge  of  church  membership  upon 
all  whom  they  receive  into  the  Church.  This 
is  the  command  which  was  given  them;  and 
now  is  it  supposable,  or  even  conceivable,  that 


108  THESE    LITTLE   OXES. 

they  could  have  interpreted  the  command  in 
any  other  way  than  as  requiring  them  to  bap- 
tize not  only  those  who  professed  to  be  dis- 
ciples, but  their  children  also?  The  ques- 
tion has  been  well  asked  whether,  if  they 
had  been  commanded  to  make  disciples  by 
circumcising  them,  they  would  not  have  con- 
sidered themselves  bound  to  circumcise  the 
children  of  their  converts.  "  It  is  plain  that 
the  apostles  could  not  fail,  in  receiving  pa- 
rents, to  receive  their  children  also  into  the 
Church  and  to  enroll  their  names  in  the 
list  of  disciples.  It  was  inevitable  that  they 
should  act  on  the  principle  to  which  they 
had  always  been  accustomed.  When,  under 
the  Old  Testament,  a  parent  joined  the  con- 
gregation of  the  Lord,  he  brought  his  minor 
children  with  him.  When,  therefore,  the 
apostles  baptized  the  head  of  a  family,  it 
was  a  matter  of  course  that  they  should 
baptize  his  infant  children.  We  accordingly 
find  that  when  God  opened  the  heart  of 
Lydia,  she  was  baptized  and  her  household  ; 
when  the  jailer  of  Philippi  believed,  he  was 
))aptized  and  all  his  straightway;  and  Paul 
says  he  baptized  the  household  of  Stephanas. 
Tue  connection  in  which  these  facts  are  stated 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  109 

renders  it  plain  that  the  baptism  of  these  fam- 
ilies was  on  the  ground  of  the  faith  of  the 
parent.^^ 

It  is  no  wonder  tliat  tliey  pursned  this 
course,  for  they  were  unacquainted  with  any 
command  of  Christ  excluding  the  children 
of  believers  from  membership  in  the  Church. 
And  if  no  such  command  was  giv^en,  then,  if, 
according  to  the  express  will  of  God,  the  chil- 
dren of  believing  parents  were  included  in 
the  Church  of  old,  they  are  included  in  it 
now.  This  argument  would  not  be  conclu- 
sive were  the  kingdom  of  God  under  the  old 
dispensation  a  different  Church  from  the  one 
under  the  new,  but  it  has  been  shown  that 
the  Church  under  both  dispensations  is  the 
same. 


CHAPTER   V. 

OPJECTIOXS     COXSIDERED. — PARTIAL     RE- 
STATEMENT   OF    THE    DOCTRINE. 

1.  Most  of  those  who  object  to  the  recog- 
nition of  the  infants  of  believers  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  found  their  objection 
on  the  incompetency  of  infants  to  profess 
religion  for  themselves,  and  to  consecrate 
themselves  to  the  worship  and  service  of 
the  Lord  Jesus.  But  why  is  it  that  no  Jew 
of  the  old  dispensation  ever  thought  of  en- 
tering his  protest  against  the  enrollment  of 
children  as  members  of  the  Church  for  the 
same  reason  ?  The  Jewish  infant  could  not 
for  himself  avouch  the  Lord  to  be  his  God. 
Surely  these  objectors  ought  to  be  greatly  as- 
tonished to  observe  that  no  Jew  ever  expressed 
any  dissatisfaction  because  God  (when  he  en- 
tered into  covenant  with  Abraham)  promised 
to  give  blessings  or  threatened  to  deny  bless- 
ings to  the  patriarch's  unborn  descendants,  ac- 

110 


THESE   EITTEE   ONES.  Ill 

cording  as  such  descendants  should  break  or 
keep  this  covenant. 

It  is  true  that  infants  are  incompetent  to 
profess  religion  for  themselves,  but  they  can 
be  represented  in  their  parents.  God,  we 
know,  renewed  at  Sinai  the  covenant  with 
the  chosen  people,  at  the  same  time  making 
the  law  of  Moses  the  law  of  the  covenant 
between  him  and  them.  But  this  covenant 
was  not  with  those  of  adult  age  only.  On 
the  principle  that  parents  represent  their 
children,  it  included  their  little  ones.  Ex. 
xix.  and  xx.;  Deut.  v.  and  Deut.  xxix.  9-13  : 
^^Keep,  therefore,  the  words  of  this  covenant, 
and  do  them,  that  ye  may  prosper  in  all  that 
ye  do.  Ye  stand  here  this  day,  all  of  you, 
before  the  Lord  your  God,  your  captains  of 
tribes,  your  elders  and  your  officers,  with  all 
the  men  of  Israel,  your  little  ones,  your 
wives,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
camp,  from  the  hewer  of  thy  wood  unto  the 
drawer  of  thy  water ;  that  thou  shouldst  en- 
ter into  covenant  with  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  into  his  oath  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
maketh  with  thee  this  day,  that  he  may  es- 
tablish thee  to-day  for  a  people  unto  himself, 
and  that  he  may  be  unto  tliee  a  God,  as  he 


112  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

hath  sworn  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to 
Isaac  and  to  Jacob.'' 

^'The  fundamental  law  of  this  covenant 
was  the  Decalogue.  ^  The  Lord  our  God,' 
says  Moses,  ^  made  a  covenant  with  us  in 
Horeb,  .  .  .  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
which  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
from  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  have 
none  other  gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not 
make  thee  any  graven  image,'  etc.  Deut.  v. 
2,  6,  7,  8.  The  whole  people,  therefore — the 
adults  for  themselves,  the  parents  for  their 
children,  and  masters  for  their  servants — 
entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  with  God, 
in  which  he  promised  to  be  their  God  and 
they  promised  to  be  his  people;  to  have  no 
other  God  but  Jehovah  ;  to  make  no  graven 
image  to  bow  to  or  worship ;  to  keep  holy 
the  Sabbath ;  to  honor  their  fathers  and 
mothers;  to  do  no  murder;  not  to  commit 
adultery ;  not  to  steal ;  not  to  bear  false  wit- 
ness; and  not  to  covet.  In  this  solemn  trans- 
action parents  acted  for  their  children,  as  they 
again  were  to  act  for  theirs  from  generation 
to  generation.  The  parent  made  for  the 
child  a  profession  of  faith  and  promise  of 
obedience.      He   introduced    his    child   into 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  113 

the  covenant  whicli  lie  liimself  embraced, 
and  circumcision,  the  seal  of  that  covenant, 
was,  therefore,  enjoined  to  be  administered 
to  children.  The  principle  is  here  plainly 
recognized  that  the  })arent  re})resents  the 
child.  According  to  the  command  of  God, 
the  parent  was  not  only  authorized,  but  he 
was  required,  to  make  a  profession  of  faith 
and  promise  of  obedience  in  the  name  of  the 
child,  and  the  child,  by  God's  command,  was 
regarded  as  having  done  what  his  parent  did 
in  his  behalf,  and  was  accordingly  held  to  the 
contract.'' 

Not  only,  however,  in  the  covenant  made 
with  the  chosen  people  when  they  were  in 
the  wilderness,  but  in  all  the  previous  cove- 
nants which  God  ever  formed  with  men,  the 
children  were  included,  as  being  represented 
in  their  parents. 

2.  An  objection  urged  by  others  is  that 
the  New  Testament  is  silent  on  the  subject. 
This  objection  has  perhaps  been  anticipated 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  We  admit  that  the 
New  Testament  is  silent  to  this  extent — that 
it  contains  no  precept  directly  instituting  the 
Church  membership  of  infants ;  but  the  rea- 
son is  that  such  a  precept  was  in  no  ways 


114  thj:se  little  ones. 

necessary.  Since  the  relation  of  children  to 
the  Church  as  mem  hers  had  subsisted  for  cen- 
turies without  one  moment's  interruption,  and 
since  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  rela- 
tion ^yas  to  continue  under  the  new  dispen- 
sation, no  reason  existed  why  it  should  be 
instituted  anew.  "  The  silence  of  the  New 
Testament  on  this  head  is  altogether  in  favor 
of  those  who  maintain  that  the  union  of  pa- 
rents with  the  Church  of  God  includes  their 
children  also.  But  on  the  supposition  that 
this  principle  was  to  operate  no  longer — that 
the  common  interest  of  children  with  their 
parents  in  God's  covenant  was  to  cease — the 
silence  of  the  New  Testament  is  one  of  the 
most  inexplicable  things  which  ever  tortured 
the  ingenuity  of  man.  When  the  economy  of 
Moses  was  to  be  superseded  by  that  of  Jesus 
Christ,  he  prepared  the  way  in  the  most  grad- 
ual and  gentle  manner;  he  showed  them  from 
their  own  Scriptures  that  he  had  done  only 
what  he  had  intended  and  predicted  from  the 
beginning;  he  set  before  their  eyes  a  compar- 
ative view  of  the  two  dispensations  to  satisfy 
them  they  had  lost  nothing,  but  had  gained 
much,  by  the  exchange.  But  when  he  touch- 
ed them  in  the  point  of  most  exquisite  sensi- 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  115 

bility — when  he  passed  a  sworcl  through  their 
souls  by  cutting  off  their  children  from  all  the 
interest  which  they  once  had  in  his  Church — 
the  heavy  mandate  is  preceded  by  no  w^arn- 
ing;  is  accompanied  by  no  comfort;  is  fol- 
lowed by  nothing  to  replace  the  privation  ;  is 
not  even  sui)ported  by  a  single  reason.  It 
cannot  be ! 

"Conceding,  then,  to  the  opposers  of  our 
children's  claims  as  members  of  the  Christian 
Church  all  that  they  ask  with  regard  to  the 
silence  of  the  New  Testament,  that  very  con- 
cession works  their  ruin.  If  their  views  are 
correct,  it  could  not  have  been  thus  silent. 
The  case  is  now  reversed.  Instead  of  oui' 
producing  from  the  New  Testament  such  a 
warrant  for  the  privileges  of  our  infant  seed 
as  they  require,  we  turn  the  tables  upon 
them,  and  insist  that  they  shall  produce 
scriptural  proof  of  God's  having  annulled  the 
constitution  under  which  we  assert  our  right. 
Till  they  do  this  our  cause  is  invincible.  He 
once  granted  to  his  Church  the  right  for 
which  we  contend,  and  nothing  but  his  own 
act  can  take  it  away.  We  want  to  see  the 
act  of  abrogation.  'We  must  see  it  in  the 
New  Testament,  for  there  it  is  if  it  is  at  all. 


116  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

Point  it  out,  and  we  have  done.  Till  then 
we  shall  rejoice  in  the  consolation  of  calling 
uj3on  God  as  our  God  and  the  God  of  our 
seed.''* 

3.  It  is  objected  by  others  that  great  evils 
have  resulted  from  the  recognition  of  the 
right  of  infants  to  membership  in  the  Church. 
It  is  asserted  that  it  has  led  to  the  adoption 
of  dangerous  errors;  as,  that  the  Church 
is  essentially  only  an  external  society,  tliat 
no  personal  religious  experience  is  really 
necessary  in  order  to  acceptance  with  God, 
that  children  are  safe  if  they  are  only 
baptized  and  connected  with  the  visible 
Church,  etc. 

But  these  errors  have  been  almost  entirely 
confined  to  those  European  churches  which 
practice  the  indiscriminate  baptism  of  the 
children  of  all  those  who  were  themselves 
baptized  in  infancy,  whether  these  latter  ever 
became  communicants  or  not,  and  which,  as  a 
consequence,  baptize  the  infants  of  many  who 
assume  obligations  and  make  promises  as  pa- 
rents which  they  have  no  intention  to  fulfill, 
and  which  they  are  not  qualified  to  fulfill. 
Only  let  parents  and  churches  faithfully 
*  The  Church  of  God,  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Mason. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  117 

perform  all  their  duties  to  the  little  ones — 
Christ's  lambs — and  the  recognition  of  the 
church  membership  of  those  infants  who 
are  entitled  to  be  recognized  as  members, 
would  be  unaccompanied  with  the  hurtful 
practices  to  which  allusion  has  been  made. 

These  evils  are  not  necessary,  and  they 
never  would  have  afflicted  the  Church  but 
for  her  own  supineness  and  unfaithfulness. 
It  is  God's  command  that  we  regard  and 
treat  the  children  of  his  people  as  included 
in  the  Church ;  and  his  command  is  to  be 
obeyed,  whatever  our  fears  may  be  as  to  the 
conseq-uences.  But  were  the  command  al- 
ways obeyed  in  the  right  way,  were  we  to 
look  upon  membership  as  their  birthright, 
and  theuj  instead  of  neglecting  them,  w^atch 
over,  and  cherish,  and  train  them  just  as  God 
would  have  us,  our  recognition  of  their  real 
standing  would  be  rewarded  with  the  hap- 
piest results. 

The  evils  of  which  these  objectors  speak 
they  ascribe  to  a  wrong  cause.  Professors 
of  religion  are  fearfully  remiss  in  the  duty 
of  watching  over,  encouraging,  praying  for, 
admonishing,  warning  and  instructing  each 
other  with  tender  solicitude.     If  they  faith- 


118  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

fully  performed  these  duties,  those  among 
their  number  who  are  self-deceived — never 
having  been  truly  born  again — would  be  fa- 
vorably situated  for  being  converted.  Many 
unrenewed  professors  would  be  savingly  ben- 
efited. And  did  this  happy  state  of  things 
exist  in  the  Church  (and  it  ought  to  exist), 
more  of  the  children  of  God's  people — chil- 
dren born  within  the  Church — would  give 
clear  evidence  of  piety,  and  would  grow  up 
to  be  rich  blessings  to  Zion  and  to  the  world. 
For  they  too  would  enjoy  the  ^^  watch  and 
care"  received  by  adult  professors  of  religion. 
The  family  is  the  unit  of  the  Church,  and 
its  most  healthful  growth  is  from  within. 
The  constant  admittance  of  its  maturing  chil- 
dren to  the  Lord's  table  is  its  great  liope  and 
strength.  This  is  not  saying  that  there  are 
no  otliei^  methods  by  which  Christ's  kingdom 
increases.  One  way  in  which  it  makes  prog- 
ress, is  by  the  conversion  and  reception  into 
the  Church,  from  the  world,  of  small  numbers 
from  time  to  time.  Another  Avay  by  which 
it  advances  is  by  revivals.  Nevertheless, 
children  born  within  tlie  Church  constitute  a 
most  important  source  from  which  she  is  to 
be  supplied  with  communicants.     ''There  is 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  119 

a  fund  of  increase  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
Church.'^  It  is  so  evidently  the  will  of  God 
that  his  Church  should  thus  grow  from  with- 
in that  in  the  Confessions  of  the  four  great  di- 
visions of  the  Christian  Church — the  Greek, 
the  Latin,  the  Lutheran,  and  the  Reformed 
— the  children  of  Christians  are  spoken  of 
as  fully  and  really  members  of  the  visible 
Church  as  are  their  parents. 

God  never  designed  that  his  kingdom 
should  be  built  up  exclusively  by  revivals. 
It  is  our  privilege  to  pray  for  their  frequent 
recurrence.  Perhaps  none  could  be  found 
who  would  not  eagerly  give  their  assent  to 
this.  But  as  far  as  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant are  concerned,  it  would  be  a  great  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  God  would  have  us  rely 
on  revivals  at  all  as  the  means  of  their  salva- 
tion. They  are  to  be  trained  up  by  their  pa- 
rents and  by  the  Church  as  those  already  be- 
longing to  God.  ^^I  doubt  not  to  affirm," 
says  that  holy  and  successful  minister  of 
Christ,  Richard  Baxter,  ^^that  a  godly  edu- 
cation is  God's  first  and  ordinary  appointed 
means  for  the  begetting  of  actual  faith  and 
other  graces.  .  .  .  Tlie  ordinary  appointed 
means  for   the  first  actual  grace  is  parents^ 


120  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

godly  instruction  and  education  of  their  chil- 
dren.^^ 

It  is  partly  owing  to  the  undue  promi- 
nence given  to  revivals,  and  to  the  too  exclu- 
sive dependence  on  them,  that  the  teachings 
of  the  Scriptures  in  regard  to  careful  Chris- 
tian nurture,  and  the  ecclesiastical  instruction 
of  the  young,  being  a  divinely-appointed 
means  of  building  up  the  Church,  have 
been  so  largely  lost  sight  of.  When  the  Holy 
Spirit  converted  three  thousand  souls  under 
Peter's  preaching  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
that  apostle  did  not  forget  to  i^emind  the 
people  that  the  children  of  those  baptized 
were  within  the  covenant.  There  is  no  neces- 
sary tendency  in  revivals  to  shut  this  truth 
out  of  the  minds  of  men,  but  their  preva- 
lence has  had  this  effect.  In  many  cases  the 
attention  of  pastor  and  people  is  directed  to 
the  one  object  exclusively  of  bringing  on  a 
revival.  "If  they  fail,  they  are  chafed.  The 
pastor  gets  discouraged,  is  disposed  to  blame 
his  people,  and  the  people  to  blame  the  pas- 
tor. And  all  the  while  the  great  means  of 
good  may  be  entirely  neglected.  Family 
training  of  children  and  pastoral  instruction 
of.  the  young  are  almost  entirely  lost  sight 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  121 

of."  Many  Avliose  spirits  are  refreshed  and 
gladdened  by  the  occurrence  of  revivals  re- 
joice with  sadness.  They  long  for  the  ar- 
rival of  the  day  when  it  will  be  understood 
that  whenever  parents  are  brought  into  the 
Church,  whether  through  revivals  or  in  what- 
ever way,  their  little  ones  are  also  to  be 
enrolled  as  church  members  according  to 
God's  ordinance  and  according  to  his  com- 
mand so  clearly  revealed  in  the  Bible,  and 
when  it  will  be  understood  that  they  are  not 
only  to  be  recognized  as  members,  but  are 
ever  after  to  be  watched  over,  and  instructed, 
and  nurtured,  and  trained,  as  belonging  to 
God  and  as  entitled  to  church  privileges 
and  discipline. 

Those  who  long  and  pray  for  the  frequent 
recurrence  of  revivals  are  the  very  ones  to 
feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  Church's  having 
right  views  in  regard  to  infant  church  mem- 
bership, and  in  her  acting  on  them.  They 
are  the  very  ones  to  make  the  greatest  exer- 
tions to  bring  about  a  correct  understanding 
of  the  scriptural  doctrine  in  regard  to  such 
membership.  For  they  will  thereby  be  in- 
strumental in  procuring  from  God  just  such 
revivals  as  they  long  for.     For  our  heavenly 


122  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

Father  (we  cannot  doubt  it)  often  witliholds 
revivals  just  because  they  have  a  tendency — 
wliich  yet  they  need  not  have — to  make  men 
forgetful  of  or  indifferent  to  his  great  ordi- 
nance^ so  dear  to  his  heart,  in  respect  to  the 
Church's  chiklren.  We  may  safely  believe 
that  glorious  reviv^als  would  be  much  more 
frequently  vouchsafed  were  they  unaccom- 
panied by  this  sad  tendency. 

4.  Some  may  be  ready  to  object  that  the 
Church  is  now  more  alive  than  she  has  ever 
been  to  the  necessity  of  putting  forth  every 
exertion  for  the  salvation  of  those  who  are 
confessedly  entirely  outside  of  the  Church, 
have  no  hope,  and  are  without  God  in  the 
world,  but  that  if  she  makes  so  much  of 
infant  church  membership  the  result  wdll  be 
that  her  attention  will  be  drawn  off  from 
her  duty  to  these,  and  she  will  relax  her 
efforts  in  their  behalf. 

How,  then,  did  it  happen  that  no  such  re- 
sult followed  from  men  having  the  true  view 
of  the  status  of  baptized  children  in  the  days 
of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, and  of  the  Reforniers?  These  all  re- 
garded the  children  of  Christians  as  within 
the  Church,  and  they  treated  them   accord- 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  123 

ingly,  and  yet  their  labors  to  win  souls  to 
Christ  were  in  no  degree  injuriously  influ- 
enced by  this  treatment  of  the  Church's  chil- 
dren. The  labors  of  the  apostles  for  the 
■world  lying  in  wickedness  are  known  to  all 
readers  of  the  New  Testament.  So  are  the 
labors  of  the  first  Christians  known  to  all 
who  are  familiar  with  the  early  history  of 
the  Church.  And  the  Reformers  were  in- 
cessant in  their  toils.  They  strove  to  gather 
into  the  fold  the  young  and  the  ignorant  who 
had  no  part  in  the  Lord.  They  wrote  inces- 
santly for  the  masses,  and  taught  them  and 
preached  in  every  place  open  to  them. 

The  tendency  of  the  scriptural  view  and 
treatment  of  baptized  children  is  to  make 
good  men  even  move  faithful  to  perishing 
outsiders  than  they  are  who  regard  the  chil- 
dren of  Christians  as  in  no  degree  different 
in  their  position  from  those  of  unbelievers. 
It  must  be  so.  He  who  regards  not  the  in- 
dividual, but  the  family,  as  the  unit  of  the 
Church  must  necessarily  derive  from  such  a 
view  great  encouragement  to  toil  among  the 
masses  for  the  Church's  enlargement.  Be- 
sides all  this,  is  it  right  to  dishonor  any 
ordinance  or  institution  which  God  has  ap- 


124  THESE    LITTEE    ONES. 

pointed  lest  injurious  consequences  may  fol- 
low? AVhether  one  is  the  pastor  of  a  church, 
or  an  elder,  or  the  superintendent  of  a  Sab- 
bath-school, or  a  Sabbath-school  teacher,  he 
labors  in  the  wrong  way  if  his  course  of  in- 
struction does  not  sustain  a  proper  discrim- 
ination between  the  children  of  the  covenant 
and  others.  Such  children  are  no  better  than 
others;  nevertheless,  God  has  made  special 
promises  with  reference  to  them,  and  he  re- 
quires us  to  recognize  their  true  relation  to 
the  Church.  Our  part  is  to  obey  our  bless- 
ed Lord,  even  if  we  are  unable  to  see  what 
good  is  to  result. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  in  performing 
Sabbath-school  labors,  no  discrimination  is 
possible.  This  we  deny.  The  teacher  can 
and  should  adapt  his  labors  to  the  position 
of  the  members  of  his  class.  If  he  has  chil- 
dren in  his  class  whose  parents  are  godless, 
he  should  seek  to  take  the  place  of  such 
parents.  "  He  should  be  now  a  father,  now 
a  mother,  in  Christ  to  them.  By  frequent 
visitations  at  their  houses,  by  taking  them 
one  by  one  to  his  own  house  and  praying 
with  them,  counseling  and  instructing  them, 
by  providing  them  with    suitable  Christian 


THESE    LTTTI.E    ONES.  125 

reading,  by  writing  letters  to  them,  by  a  holy 
and  happy  example  (and  all  this  from  year  to 
year), — he  should  supply  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  to  them  the  means  of  sanctification."  If 
others  in  his  class  are  blessed  with  God- 
fearing parents,  he  can  often  remind  them 
of  their  peculiar  privileges  and  responsibili- 
ties as  children  of  the  covenant.  This  would 
not  interfere  with  the  duties  of  the  parents 
of  this  latter  class  of  children,  provided  they 
were  really  anxious  to  be  faithful  parents. 
It  is  true  enough  that  many  professing  pa- 
rents (alas !  does  not  the  remark  apply,  to 
some  extent,  to  the  Church  itself?)  altogether 
misapprehend  the  real  work  and  mission  of 
the  Sabbath-school.  In  many  cases,  at  least, 
the  instruction  of  the  household  is  left  chief- 
ly to  the  Sabbath-school  teacher. 

It  may  be  said  that  even  should  the  entire 
Church  in-  all  its  denominations  be  brought 
to  consider  the  position  of  baptized  chil- 
dren to  be  just  what  we  contend  that  it  is, 
and  to  treat  thera  as  church  members,  she 
would  soon  slide  back  to  her  present  atti- 
tude of  mind  in  regard  to  the  subject,  and 
cease  to  teach  and  train  them  as  being  al- 
ready within   the   Church.      She  would   not 


126  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

persevere,  for  her  work  would  impose  too 
heavy  burdens  and  labors  upon  her.  We 
reply  that  God  could  easily  preserve  her 
from  this  unfaithfulness,  and  would  do  so 
in  answer  to  importunate  prayer.  We  ad- 
mit, however,  that  it  requires  far  more  pa- 
tience to  continue  year  after  year  in  daily 
labors  for  the  children  than  it  does  to  work 
for  revivals.  We  trust  the  time  is  not  dis- 
tant when  certain  men  will  be  unable  to  say 
what,  with  some  truth,  they  say  now :  "  You 
cannot  deny  that  you  profess  to  regard  these 
children  as  church  members.  But  you  do 
not  believe  that  they  really  are.  You  never 
treat  them  as  church  members.  You  give 
them  none  of  the  privileges  of  church  mem- 
bers. You  do  not  count  them  on  your  list 
of  church  members.  They  do  not  regard 
themselves  as  church  members.  They  are 
practically  as  separate  from  the  church  as 
the  children  of  the  infidel  or  the  Hottentot." 
The  visible  Church,  then,  consists  in  part 
of  children  whose  parents  are  believers.  We 
will  close  the  ])resent  chapter  by  very  briefly 
pointing  out  two  points  of  resemblance  be- 
tween the  membership  of  infants  and  that 
of  those  who  only  became  church  members 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  127 

after  reaching  maturity,  and  also  one  or  two. 
points  of  dissimilarity  between  the  two  cases. 
This  will  involve  a  partial  restatement  of  the 
doctrine  which  we  have  been  endeavoring  to 
prove. 

1.  As  to  the  Condition  of  Admission  into  the 
Church. — As  the  Church  must  receive  adults 
who  make  a  credible  profession  about  whose 
regeneration  it  is  uncertain,  so  it  must  rec- 
oo^nize  as  members  the  children  of  believ- 
ers,  even  though  it  knows  not  whether  they 
are  renewed  or  unrenewed.  Here  is  a  point 
of  resemblance.  The  difference  between  the 
two  cases  is  that  the  adults  do  not  become 
members  until  they  make  a  profession  of 
personal  faith,  whereas  the  infants  of  be- 
lievers are  members  without  a  profession 
made  in  their  own  persons. 

It  is  just  as  it  was  under  the  old  dispen- 
sation. A  Gentile  who  declared  himself  a 
convert  was  not  received  into  the  Jewish 
Church  until  he  himself  openly  professed 
his  faith,  but  after  his  admittance  his  chil- 
dren were  within  the  Church  as  soon  as  they 
were  born,  and  so  their  reception  into  it  was 
not  conditioned  on  their  making  a  profession 
in  their  own  persons.     "As  a  credible  pro- 


128  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

fesslon  of  faith  by  adults  raises  the  belief  at 
tlie  bar  of  human  judgment  that  they  are 
members  of  the  invisible  Church,  are  of 
the  elect,  are  of  the  redeemed,  so  the  birth 
of  the  children  of  believers  is  to  be  accepted 
as  the  ground  for  the  belief  that  they  also 
belong  to  that  number,  and  they  should  be 
regarded  and  treated  accordingly  until  their 
own  deliberate  and  persistent  conduct  de- 
stroys the  belief.'' 

Negatively,  then,  the  condition  of  mem- 
bership in  the  case  of  adults  and  in  the 
case  of  children  is  the  same.  It  is  not  ac- 
tual regeneration.  Positively,  it  is  diiferent 
in  the  two  cases,  since  in  the  case  of  adults 
it  is  a  profession  of  personal  faith,  while,  as 
far  as  infants  are  concerned,  it  is  the  filial 
relation  to  a  parent  who  is  a  professor. 

Still,  although  the  children  of  Christians 
are  born  members  of  the  visible  Church  and 
remain  members  until  they  deliberately  cast 
themselves  out,  yet  even  in  their  case  a  per- 
sonal profession  (whereby  they  accept  of  the 
act  of  their  parents  w^hen  their  parents  made 
a  profession  in  their  behalf)  is  necessary  be- 
fore they  can  be  qualified  to  partake  of 
the  Lord's  Sapper.     They  would  generally, 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  129 

upon  reaching  the  years  of  discretion,  pos- 
sess the  qualifications  tor  coming  to  com- 
munion, would  tlieir  parents  and  the  Church 
only  discharge  their  whole  duty  to  them  from 
their  birth.  But  this  act  of  coming  to  com- 
munion and  making  a  profession  of  personal 
faith,  is  not  in  their  case  an  act  of  joining  the 
Church,  since  previously  to  its  performance 
their  membership  is  direct  and  absolute. 

2.  As  to  the  Naturae  of  Church  Member- 
ship.— It  is  in  both  cases  precisely  the  same. 
The  essential  sameness  of  the  visible  church 
membership  of  infants  with  that  of  adults, 
will  appear,  when  we  consider  that  in  both 
cases  membership  is  founded  on  presumptive 
membership  in  the  invisible  Church — that  is, 
in  both  cases  the  right  exists  of  being  regard- 
ed and  treated  by  men  as  belonging  to  the 
invisible  Church.  To  regard  and  treat  either 
adults  or  children  in  this  manner  is  simply 
to  assume  in  our  minds  that  they  are  within 
the  covenant,  and  to  treat  them  as  within  it. 
It  is,  therefore,  to  do  just  what  the  pious 
Jews  of  the  old  dispensation  did,  who  took 
it  for  granted  that  professors  and  their  chil- 
dren were  both  included  in  the  promises  made 
to  the  fathers. 
9 


130  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

"The  church  relation  into  which  the  chil- 
dren are  introduced,  is  the  same  as  that 
which  is  assumed  on  a  profession  of  faith 
by  adults.  It  entitles  them,  first  and  at 
once,  to  public  recognition  as  members  of 
the  church  by  the  administration  of  bap- 
tism, the  badge  of  that  relationship,  and 
then  to  every  right  or  privilege  as  soon  as 
they  exhibit  the  requisite  qualifications  for 
it.  And  it  imposes  upon  them  every  duty 
which  is  assumed  by  a  profession  of  faith. 
Their  membership  is  as  direct  and  absolute, 
though  not  as  full,  as  that  of  the  adult  pro- 
fessor. They  belong  to  the  particular  con- 
gregation in  which  their  parents  are  enrolled. 
Hence  a  list  of  the  baptized  members,  as  well 
as  of  the  communicating  members,  should  be 
kept  by  each  session,  and  should  be  reported 
from  year  to  year.  AVhen  parents  remove 
from  one  charge  to  another,  and  are  dis- 
missed and  recommended  as  members,  their 
children  should  also  receive  their  appropri- 
ate certificates.  They  have  a  divinely-estab- 
lished claim  on  the  care  and  consideration 
of  the  particular  church  in  which  their  lot 
is  cast.'^ 

It  follows,  from  the   church   membership 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  131 

of  the  children  of  believers  being  exactly 
the  same  as  that  of  adults,  that  the  church 
cannot  dissolve  it  for  any  other  cause  than 
would  justify  her  in  dissolving  the  church 
membership  of  an  adult  member. 

'^As  nothing  but  the  outspoken  denial  of 
his  profession,  or  a  persistent  and  flagrant 
course  of  transgression  which  points  to  total 
a])ostasy,  should  lead  to  the  excommunication 
of  a  professor,  nothing  but  the  deliberate 
cutting  off  of  themselves  can  place  any  of 
the  children  of  the  Church  out  of  its  prov- 
ince during  their  life. 

^'  They  are  under  its  government  and  dis- 
cipline from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  In 
their  earlier  years  this  must  be  exercised 
mainly,  though  not  exclusively,  through  their 
parents — not  exclusively,  for  the  Church  has 
its  direct  as  well  as  indirect  bearing  on  them. 
The  object  of  this  government  and  discipline 
is  to  prevent  transgression,  by  nurture,  and 
to  correct  transgression,  by  necessary  cen- 
sures. Baptized  members  have  no  right  to 
come  to  communion  until  they  make  a  pro- 
fession of  personal  faith.  Until  they  do  this 
they  are  like  citizens  under  age,  with  their 
rights  held  in  suspension   as  a  just  punish- 


132  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

ment  for  their  refusal  to  believe.  These  sus- 
pended rights  are  those  of  communing  and 
having  their  children  baptized.'^  (Dr.  A.  A. 
Hodge,  Commentary  on  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
p.  475.) 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  PROMISE  OF  OUR  COVENANT-KEEPING 
GOD  TO  BLESS  AND  SAVE  THE  CHILDREN 
OF   HIS   PEOPLE. 

In  the  preceding  cliapters  we  have  en- 
deavored to  prove  that  when  men  publicly 
enter  into  covenant  with  Christ,  and  there- 
by profess  religion,  they  covenant  likewise 
for  their  children,  who  thus  become  mem- 
bers of  the  visible  Church  along  with  their 
parents.  In  this  chapter  we  hope  to  show 
clearly,  that  in  the  promise  which  our  Lord, 
as  the  other  party  to  the  covenant,  makes 
to  professors  of  his  religion  he  includes  their 
little  ones  also. 

It  belongs,  however,  to  the  very  nature 
of  a  covenant  to  have  conditions.  The  con- 
ditions on  which  the  covenant-promise  in 
reference  to  the  salvation  of  children  is  sus- 
pended, as  far  as  their  parents  are  concerned, 
are  that  their  parents  shall  be  real  believers 
and  not  such  merely  by  profession,  and  that 

133 


134  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

they  train  up  their  children  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  at  the  same 
time  exercising  faitli  in  the  promise  that 
they  shall  then  be  saved. 

It  ought  not  to  pain  or  discourage  us  to 
learn  that  these  conditions  are  laid  down. 
When  I  hear  that  such  a  delightful  doctrine 
as  this  is  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  I  ought 
not  to  be  disappointed  when  told  further 
that  the  promise  is  a  conditional  one — that 
it  does  not  apply  to  those  who  fail  to  use 
the  appointed  means  for  the  salvation  of  their 
children.  No  one  whose  heart  is  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  wishes  to  be  saved  in  any  other 
way  than  in  that  appointed  by  God,  nor  will 
such  a  one  wish  his  children  to  be  saved  in 
any  other  way.  We  cannot  make  our  own 
terms.  We  glorify  God  when,  by  fulfilling 
the  conditions  of  the  covenant  with  reference 
to  our  offspring,  we  are  the  means  of  their 
salvation. 

But  are  we  warranted,  because  of  this 
promise,  in  being  confident  that  all  chil- 
dren will  be  saved  whose  believing  parents 
are  measurably  faithful?  The  reply  often 
given  to  this  is,  that  the  promise  does  not 
secure  the  salvation,  without  any  exception, 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  135 

of  such  children,  because  it  belongs  to  that 
class  of  promises  which  are  to  be  regard- 
ed as  general  declarations  of  the  divine  pur- 
poses, and  which  are  not  intended  to  in- 
dicate the  issue  of  any  particular  case ;  that 
the  promise  has  its  exceptions,  just  as  the 
declaration  has  its  exceptions  that  seed-time 
and  harvest  shall  continue  while  the  world 
stands ;  that,  nevertheless,  the  covenant  of 
grace  made  with  believers  so  includes  their 
offspring  that  its  promise  is  an  abundant 
security  that  as  a  general  rule  the  children 
of  Christians  will  receive  grace  and  salva- 
tion on  the  ground  of  the  faith  of  their 
parents.  Though  this  view,  w^hich  is  our 
own,  admits  that  we  may  sometimes  behold 
exceptions,  yet  it  is  full  of  encouragement 
and  comfort  to  all  believing  fathers  and 
mothers.  For  according  to  it,  if  we  de- 
voutly train  up  our  children  for  God,  then 
we  may  at  least  as  confidently  expect  their 
salvation,  as  the  husbandman  the  harvest. 

GOD   IS   ABLE   TO   PROMISE   THIS. 

Many,  in  consequence  of  certain  unscrip- 
tural  views  which  they  have  adopted,  are 
unable   to    believe   that   faith    in    covenant- 


136  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

promises  has  anything  to  do  with  the  sal- 
vation of  children.  They  must,  if  consist- 
ent, hold  it  to  be  impossible  for  God  to 
promise  parents  that  he  will  renew  their 
children,  since,  according  to  their  view,  the 
regeneration  of  men  is  not  God's  work;  it 
is  man's  work.  Every  sinner  has  plenary 
power  to  change  his  own  heart,  and  there- 
fore to  look  to  God  to  effect  this  change  is 
a  great  mistake.  According  to  these  views, 
there  is  no  place  for  a  covenant-promise 
touching  this  matter;  and  if  God  has  made 
such  a  promise,  the  parent  cannot  rely  on 
it.  For  it  is  the  sinner,  and  he  alone,  who 
can  do  the  work. 

There  are  others  who  are  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge that  it  partly  belongs  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  regenerate  the  soul,  but  who  deny 
that  this  change  is  his  work  exclusively. 
They  maintain  that  the  soul  must  co-operate 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  in  effecting  the  great 
change.  They  admit  that  our  nature  is  mor- 
ally deteriorated  to  some  extent,  but  the  to- 
tal spiritual  death  of  the  soul  they  by  no 
means  admit,  and  therefore  they  deny  the 
entire  inability  of  the  natural  man  to  that 
which  is  spiritually  good. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  137 

Accorfling  to  the  views  of  these  persons, 
also,  itNwould  be  impossible  for  God  to  prom- 
ise us  the  reo:eneration  and  salvation  of  our 
cliildren;  and  anything  like  a  connection  be- 
tween the  piety  of  parents  and  that  of  their 
children  is  out  of  the  question,  because  sueh 
a  connection  implies  that  the  regeneration  of 
a  soul  may  be  eifected  by  causes  independent 
of  and  prior  to  the  decision  of  the  soul's 
own  will.  To  hope  for  and  expect  the  re- 
generation of  our  children  smpZ^/  because 
God  has  promised  it  to  us  supposes  that  noth- 
ing short  of  a  divine  supernatural  energy, 
unattended  by  the  soul's  own  co-operation, 
can  make  the  soul  morally  good. 

Dr.  Bushnell's  book  on  Christian  nurture 
discusses  with  great  power  the  organic  life 
of  the  family,  the  connection  between  the 
faith  of  the  parent  and  that  of  the  child, 
and  the  importance  of  Christian  nurture  as 
the  means  of  building  up  the  Church ;  and 
we  expect  to  advert  again  to  the  teachings 
of  his  book,*  on  some  accounts  so  valu- 
able. We  would  only  remark  here  that  he 
also  holds  errors  in  regard  to  the  state  of 

*  Christian  Nurture,  by  Horace  Buslinell.  New  York, 
1871. 


138  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

human  nature  which  involve  a  denial  that 
parents  are  in  any  need  of  covenant  promises 
with  reference  to  their  chiklren's  salvation. 
Instead  of  recognizing  the  scriptural  truth 
that  the  Holy  Sj^irit  regenerates  the  soul 
by  operating  upon  it  in  a  supernatural  way, 
he  attributes  to  the  parental  character  and 
nurture  as  an  organic  power  an  influence 
fully  adequate  to  the  child's  regeneration. 
It  is  not  on  God's  covenant  promise,  there- 
fore, according  to  him,  that  we  are  to  rest 
our  expectations  touching  the  conversion 
and  salvation  of   our  offspring. 

If  the  new  creation  of  the  soul  is  not 
solely  and  exclusively  the  work  of  God — 
if  it  is  partly  man's  work — how  could  God 
ever  promise  you  that  he  will  renew  your 
children?  How  could  he  ever  enter  into  a 
covenant  with  his  peo})le  to  save  their  little 
ones?  And  what  meaning  would  there  be 
in  talking  about  our  having  faith  in  a  cov- 
enant promise?  You  must  confide  in  the 
declarations  of  Scripture  concerning  the  state 
of  human  nature.  If  you  are  in  error  as  to 
the  total  depravity  of  the  soul  and  its  con- 
sequent entire  inability  to  originate  spiritual 
life  in  itself,  you  will  fail  to  see  that  God 


thp:se  little  oxes.  139 

has  every  human  spirit  entirely  in  his  own 
hands,  to  regenerate  it  or  not  as  he  Avills; 
and  failing  to  see  this,  you  cannot  rely  on 
God's  promise  to  save  your  children. 

While  the  Bible  does  not  affirm  that  all 
men  are  equally  wicked,  or  that  any  man  is 
as  thoroughly  corrupt  as  it  is  possible  for 
one  to  be,  or  that  men  are  not  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  honest  in  their  dealings  with 
each  other  and  kind  in  their  feelings  toward 
each  other,  it  does  teach  that  the  apostasy  of 
all  men  from  God  is  total  or  complete — that 
each  man  is,  until  God  changes  his  heart,  en- 
tirely destitute  of  holiness,  of  any  principle 
of  sj^iritual  life.  Though  this  is  not  our 
normal  and  original  condition,  since  Adam 
was  created  holy,  yet  now  it  is  the  state  of 
all  men  at  birth.  We  are  a  fallen  race. 
We  are  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath, 
and  we  come  into  this  world  in  a  state  of 
spiritual  death.  From  this  state  we  can  do 
nothing  to  deliver  ourselves.  In  God  alone 
is  our  help,  and  it  is  only  when  we  fully  be- 
lieve this  that  we  can  trust  in  God's  promise 
to  deliver  and  save  our  children. 

Your  children,  then,  are  by  nature  under 
condemnation  and  totally  destitute  of  spirit- 


140  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

ual  life.  But  provided  you  yourself  have 
faith  and  may  rightfully  look  upon  yourself 
as  belonging  to  Christ,  you  may  fully  expect 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  work  faith  also 
in  your  children,  if  you  carefully  bring  them 
up  for  God,  and  unite  them  to  the  Saviour. 
Faithfully  use  the  means  which  God  has 
commanded  you  to  use,  and  then,  if  you 
would  not  be  guilty  of  doubting  the  prom- 
ise of  the  covenant,  confidently  expect  that 
a  saving  work  will  be  begun  in  their  souls 
and  carried  on  to  its  completion. 

What  we  are  intent  upon  is  not  simply 
to  advocate  the  doctrine  that  pious  parents 
who  are  faithful  may  be  expected  to  have 
pious  children,  but  to  hold  up  the  precious 
truth  that  the  salvation  of  their  offspring  is 
a  THING  OF  PROMISE — that  in  the  covenant 
which  God  enters  into  with  the  believing 
parent  the  promise  of  eternal  life  is  for  his 
cliild  as  much  as  for  himself 

In  professing  Christ  before  men  and  be- 
coming a  member  of  the  visible  Church,  you 
by  your  own  act  covenanted  for  your  child 
as  well  as  for  yourself.  And  God,  on  the 
other  hand,  covenanted  and  promised  to  bless 
your  child.    We  repeat  it  that,  provided  God's 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  141 

people  do  their  part  and  use  the  appointed 
means,  the  salvation  of  their  children  is  a 
thing  of  promise,  and  the  promise  is  that 
on  which  they  should  rely. 

THE   PRINCIPAL   PASSAGES   WHICH   CONTAIN 
THE    PROMISES. 

But  what  are  the  precise  words  in  which 
the  promise  to  save  our  children  is  given  ? 
Where  are  the  words  of  the  promise  to-  be 
found  ?  They  are  to  be  found  in  many  parts 
of  the  Bible,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  refer  to 
the  following  passages.  In  the  covenant 
made  wuth  Abraham,  God  said  (Gen.  xvii.  7), 
/  will  establish  my  covenant  heticeen  me  and 
thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their-  genera- 
tio7iSy  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  he  a  God 
to  thee  and  thy  seed  after  thee.  Every  He- 
brew understood  this  to  be  a  promise  to  bless 
and  save  not  only  himself,  but  his  children  ; 
and  indeed  it  is  sufficiently  plain.  It  is, 
however,  repeated  on  various  occasions  in 
the  most  explicit  terms.  Thus  in  Deut. 
xxxix.  6  it  is  said.  The  Lord  thy  God  unll 
circumcise  thine  heart  and  the  heart  of  thy 
seed  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine 
heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou  may  est 


142  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

live.  The  mercy  of  the  Lord,  says  the  Psalm- 
ist (ciii.  17,  18),  is  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing %i])on  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  right- 
eousness unto  children's  children;  to  such  as 
hee]}  his  covenant^  and  to  those  that  remember 
his  commandments  to  do  them.  It  is  striking 
that  God  describes  himself  as  a  covenant- 
keeping  God,  and  proclaims  that  generation 
after  generation  of  those  that  fear  him  shall 
have  evidence  of  his  fidelity.  Thus  (Deut. 
vii.  9),  Know  therefore  that  the  Lord  thy  God 
he  is  God,  the  faithfiU  God,  which  keepeth  cov- 
enant and  mercy  with  them  that  love  him  and 
keep  his  commandments  to  a  thousand  genera- 
tions. What  could  be  more  explicit  than  the 
words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  (lix.  21)? — As 
for  me,  this  is  my  covenant  with  them,  saith  the 
LjOi^d ;  3Iy  Spirit  that  is  upon  thee,  and  my 
words  which  I  have  put  in  thy  mouth,  shall 
not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  oid  of  the 
mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  moidh  of  thy 
seed's  seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from  henceforth 
and  for  ever.  What  a  blessing  to  be  con- 
nected with  those  who  are  in  covenant  with 
God !  The  promise  is.  To  thee  and  thy  seed 
after  thee.  When  the  apostle  Peter  uttered 
these  words  (Acts  ii.  39),  he  only  announced 


THESE    LITTLE    OXES.  143 

a  truth  with  which  his  hearers  were  all  famil- 
iar. Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  these  dec- 
larations of  the  Bible.  Tliey  cannot  be  mis- 
understood. You  have,  believer,  the  promise 
that  if  you  bring  up  your  children  for  God 
he  will  give  them  his  Spirit,  renew  their 
hearts,  and  save  them  for  ever. 

THE  PROMISE  IS  ALSO  IMPLIED  IX  THE 
COMMANDS  WHICH  GOD  LAYS  UPON  PA- 
RENTS. 

We  have  shown  in  the  former  part  of  this 
little  book  that  God  commands  not  only  the 
Church  in  general,  but  parents,  to  give  their 
children  a  place  in  the  visible  Church — 
i.  e.,  to  recognize  their  right  to  such  a  place. 
But  in  commanding  this  external  relation- 
ship, God  virtually  promises  that  higher  spir- 
itual relationship  which  alone  gives  value  to 
the  external  relationship. 

God  commands  the  baptism  of  the  chil- 
dren of  believing  parents.  But  what  is  bap- 
tism ?  By  the  admission  of  all,  it  is  the  sign 
and  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  What, 
then,  does  its  being  attached  to  infants  prove? 
It  proves  that  they  are  within  the  covenant, 
that  they  are  the   subjects  of  its   promises, 


144  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

that  for  them  tlie  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  of  every  blessing  included  in  eternal  life 
are  meant. 

HOW   CAN   THE    LACK    OF   INTEREST   IN   THIS 
PRECIOUS    PROMISE    BE    EXPLAINED? 

The  explanation  of  the  manifest  want  of 
heart-interest  in  these  precious  assurances  of 
God  on  the  part  of  not  a  few  professedly 
Christian  parents,  is  that  they  are  themselves 
still  unrenewed.  Though  unrenewed  men 
who  have  been  born  in  a  Christian  commu- 
nity, and  have  been  taught  from  infancy  to 
revere  the  Bible,  may  readily  admit  that  it 
is  a  divine  revelation,  and  may  assent  to  its 
claims  without  reluctance,  nevertheless  they 
are  and  must  be  indifferent  to  ^Hhe  things 
of  the  Spirit."  Divine  things  have  no  at- 
traction for  them.  They  do  not  feel  their 
power  because  they  are  unable  to  see  their 
glory  and  sweetness  and  adaptation  to  the 
wants  of  sinful,  weak,  helpless  souls.  To  the 
doctrines,  directions,  encouragements,  warn- 
ings, cautions,  exhortations  and  entreaties  of 
the  word  of  God,  to  its  descriptions  and 
praises  of  God's  perfections,  blessedness, 
works,  attributes,  love   for   sinners,  and   of 


THESE    LITTLE    OXES.  145 

his  Infinitely  glorious  and  mysterious  plan 
for  saving  lost  sinners,  they  are  utterly  and 
totally  indifferent.  They  are  indifferent  to 
everything  that  relates  to  God — to  everything 
God  has  said  and  has  promised.  One  would 
think  that  God's  loving  promises  and  encour- 
agements, intended  for  weak,  erring  mortals 
sensible  in  some  measure  of  their  wants, 
would  impress  and  arouse  them.  Most  un- 
regenerate  men  are  at  times  in  some  measure 
sensible  of  their  wants,  but  to  divine  things 
they  are  insensible  and  indifferent.  They 
cannot  feel  interested  in  them.  Now,  God's 
kind  promises  to  his  people  with  reference 
to  their  children  are  to  be  classed  among 
the  "things  of  the  Spirit" — divine  things; 
and  this,  with  the  fact  that  many  profess- 
ing parents  have  never  been  born  again,  but 
are  still  unrenewed,  is  no  doubt  the  reason 
why  many  professing,  parents  feel  no  inter- 
est in  such  promises  and  are  unaffected  by 
them.  We  need  not  expect  that  unconverted 
members  of  the  Church,  who  have  children, 
will  be  moved  and  roused  to  action  by  God's 
promises  to  bestow  spiritual  blessings  upon 
children.  These,  we  repeat  it,  are  to  be  classed 
among  '^the  things  of  the  Spirit,"  but  the 

10 


146  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit. 

But  even  many  parents  who  are  not  des- 
titute of  piety  are  to  an  extent  truly  won- 
derful indifferent  to  the  promises  which  God 
makes  to  believing  parents.  Could  it  be  so 
if  they  possessed  vigorous  piety?  May  it  not 
be  the  case  that  as  the  unregenerate  state  of 
some  parents  who  are  professors  accounts  for 
their  being  totally  indifferent  to  all  spiritual 
things,  and  therefare  to  the  promises  touch- 
ing children,  so  the  lukewarmness  and  want 
of  spirituality  of  othe?"  parents  who  are  not 
really  graceless  explain  the  feebleness  with 
which  they  respond  to  the  directions  and 
promises  intended  for  believers  who  sustain 
the  parental  relation  ?  Would  not  the  sim- 
ple increase  of  the  piety  of  such  worldly- 
minded  fathers  and  mothers  be  sufficient  to 
deepen  their  interest  in  all  that  God  says  to 
Christian  parents  with  reference  to  their  off- 
spring? 

But  there  is  another  explanation  of  this 
lack  of  interest.  Parents,  whether  pious  or 
not,  cannot  feel  an  interest  in  the  divine 
promise  to  bless  their  children  if  they  do 
not  believe  that  any  such  promise  exists,  and 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  147 

they  are  constrained  to  disbelieve  that  such  a 
promise  exists  if  they  sincerely  deny  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  church  membership  of  children. 
Let  us  suppose  that  I,  a  parent,  profess  relig- 
ion and  enter  into  covenant  with  God  for  my- 
self, promising  faith  and  obedience  to  Christ. 
Now,  if  I  deny  that  my  children  are  by 
this  act  of  mine  introduced  into  the  visi- 
ble Church,  then  I  deny  that  I  am  the  rep- 
resentative of  my  little  ones.  I  deny  that  it 
is  my  duty  to  make  promises  in  their  behalf 
binding  them  to  exercise  faith  and  yield 
obedience  upon  their  becoming  independent 
moral  agents,  and  I  deny  that  they  begin 
to  sustain  a  covenant  relation  to  God  based 
on  my  own  faith  and  spiritual  life.  But  it 
is  utterly  impossible  to  deny  and  disbelieve 
all  this,  and  at  the  same  time  believe  that  God 
specially  promises  to  bless  my  little  ones  and 
give  them  eternal  life.  And  disbelieving  the 
existence  of  such  a  promise,  how  can  I  feel 
an  interest  in  it? 

In  regard  to  a  feeling  of  interest  in  this 
class  of  the  divine  promises,  we  must  expect 
to  see  professing  parents  in  this  respect  what 
their  own  parents  were  before  them.  It  may 
be  that  when  those  who  have  now  become 


148  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

lieacls  of  families  were  themselves  children, 
their  own  parents  paid  little  heed  to  those 
Scripture  assurances  which  are  so  adapted 
to  encourage  and  stimulate  Christian  fathers 
and  mothers.  If  this  was  the  case,  is  it  sur- 
prising that,  now  that  they  sustain  the  parent- 
al relation,  they  in  their  turn  show  the  same 
indifference  to  these  assurances  of  the  cove- 
nant? They  do  but  follow  the  bad  example 
set  before  tliem  in  their  early  days.  Nothing 
has  happened  to  them  during  their  past  lives 
(unless  they  have  since  reaching  maturity  en- 
joyed the  blessing  of  being  well  instructed 
by  a  faithful  ministry)  to  arouse  their  atten- 
tion to  the  covenant  promise  which  includes 
the  little  ones.  These  promises,  therefore, 
even  if  read,  are  not  attended  to,  and  per- 
haps it  is  not  known  that  they  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible  at  all. 

But  though  they  are  so  often  disregarded, 
even  by  Christian  parents,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  they  are  set  before  us  with  great 
prominence  in  the  Bible,  and  it  is  our  duty 
and  privilege  to  plead  them ;  and  in  reliance 
upon  them  we  are  warranted  to  expect  that 
our  children  will,  through  the  divine  bless- 
ing upon  our  faithful   efforts,  grow  up   the 


THESE   LITTLE  ONES.  149 

children  of  God.  He  is  not  a  well-informed 
Christian  who  does  not  know  that  these  gra- 
cious promises  of  God  have  been  abundantly 
recognized  by  all  branches  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  as  contained  in  the  Bible.  They 
have  united  in  teaching  that  since  infants 
as  well  as  their  parents  are  included  in  the 
covenant  and  Church  of  God,  and  since  re- 
demption from  sin  by  the  blood  of  Clirist, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  promised  to  them  no 
less  than  to  their  parents,  they  must  also  be 
admitted  into  the  Christian  Church,  and  be 
distinguished  from  the  children  of  unbeliev- 
ers, as  was  done  under  the  old  covenant. 

THE    WHOLE   MEANING   OF   THE   PROMISE. 

The  promise  of  our  covenant  God  is  not 
merely  that  our  children  shall  become  Chris- 
tians some  time  before  they  die.  It  is  much 
more  comforting  than  that.  It  is  that  if  we 
precede  their  birth  with  strong  crying  and 
prayer  for  them,  and  that  if  afterward  we 
are  perseveringly  faithful  to  them  in  the  mat- 
ter of  their  Christian  nurture,  they  shall  grow 
up  Christians.  Just  this  is  what  the  promise 
encourages  us  to  expect.  Among  the  many 
passages   which  contain   by  implication   this 


150  THESE   LITTLE   ONEB. 

gracious  promise  to  parents  is  tliis :  ^'  Bring 
them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord."  Eph.  vi.  4.  Bushnell  justly  says 
that  this  form  of  expression  indicates  the  ex- 
istence of  a  divine  nurture  encompassing  the 
child  and  moulding  him  unto  God,  so  that 
he  shall  be  brought  up,  as  it  were,  in  him. 
Certainly,  God's  promise  means  something 
more  than  that  the  children  of  his  people 
are  to  grow  up  for  future  conversion. 

One  of  Bushnell's  propositions  is  that,  ac- 
cording to  God's  plan,  the  child  is  to  grow  up 
a  Christian  and  never  know  himself  as  being 
otherwise.  He  does  not  err  in  maintaining 
that  this  doctrine,  so  far  from  being  a  nov- 
elty, is  as  old  as  the  Christian  Church.  But 
he  is  faulty  in  that  he  makes  no  attempt  to 
show  that  the  reason,  and  the  sole  reason, 
why  this  precious  doctrine  is  to  be  received, 
is  that  God  has  promised  that  the  chiklren  of 
faithful  parents  shall  grow  up  in  piety.  He 
makes  little  of  God's  promise  to  parents. 
And  no  wonder;  for  it  is  the  doctrine  of  his 
book  that  as  the  parent  plant  transmits  its 
life  to  the  seed  by  organic  natural  law,  so 
by  a  similar  process  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
pious  parent  flows   to  his    offspring.      It  is 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  151 

not  the  teaching  of  his  book,  however,  that 
this  alo7ie  is  sufficient,  for  he  admits,  and 
even  insists,  that  to  the  power  of  the  life 
of  the  parent  there  must  be  added  the  power 
of  Christian  nurture;  indeed,  the  necessity  of 
such  nurture  is  set  forth  throughout  his  whole 
book  with  great  ability  and  eloquence.  Then, 
when  Christian  nurture  is  all  that  it  should 
be,  we  may  confidently  expect  the  steady 
growth  of  the  child  in  holiness  and  Chris- 
tian loveliness.  Thus,  notwithstanding  his  as- 
sertions to  the  contrary,  he  seems  to  exclude 
an  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  prop- 
erly supernatural.  And  he  also  fails  to  rest 
the  connection  between  the  piety  of  parents 
and  that  of  their  offspring  on  God's  covenant 
promise — a  promise  conditioned,  of  course, 
on  the  use,  on  the  part  of  the  parent,  of  the 
divinely-appointed  means. 

But,  as  already  intimated,  he  has  a  solid 
scriptural  basis  for  his  position  that  we  ought 
to  expect  the  children  of  God's  people,  pro- 
vided they  are  brought  up  in  the  nurture  of 
the  Lord,  to  grow  up  Christians  without  their 
ever  being  able  to  remember  when  they  first 
began  to  love  God. 

"God,"  he   says,  "does   expressly    lay    it 


152  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

upon  US  to  expect  that  our  children  will 
grow  uj)  in  piety  under  the  parental  nurture, 
and  assumes  the  possibility  that  such  a  result 
may  ordinarily  be  realized.  According  to  all 
that  he  has  taught  us  concerning  his  own  dis- 
positions, he  desires  on  his  part  tliat  children 
should  grow  up  in  piety  as  earnestly  as  the 
parent  can  desire  it — nay,  as  much  more  earn- 
estly as  he  hates  sin  more  intensely. 

"All  Christian  parents  would  like  to  see 
their  children  grow  up  in  piety;  and  the  bet- 
ter Christians  they  are,  the  more  earnestly 
they  desire  it.  But  why  should  a  Christian 
parent,  the  deeper  his  piety,  be  led  to  desire 
more  earnestly  what  is  impossible?  And  if 
it  be  generally  seen  that  the  children  of  such 
persons  are  more  likely  to  become  Christians 
early,  what  forbids  the  hope  that  if  they  were 
riper  still  in  their  piety,  living  a  more  Christ- 
like life  and  more  cultivated  in  their  views 
of  family  nurture,  they  might  see  their  chil- 
dren grow  up  always  in  piety  toward  God? 
Moreover,  since  it  is  the  distinction  of  Chris- 
tian parents  that  they  are  themselves  in  the 
nurture  of  the  Lord,  since  Christ  and  the  di- 
vine love  are  become  the  food  of  their  life, 
^yhat  will  they  so  naturally  seek  as  to  have 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  153 

their  children  partakers  with  tliem — heirs  to- 
gether with  them  in  the  grace  of  life? 

"  What  authority  have  you  from  Scripture 
to  tell  your  child  or  by  any  sign  to  show  him 
that  you  do  not  expect  him  truly  to  love  and 
obey  God  till  after  he  has  spent  whole  years 
in  hatred  and  wrong?  Perhaps  you  do  not 
give  him  to  expect  that  he  is  to  grow  up  in 
sin  ;  you  only  expect  that  he  w^ill  yourself. 
That  is  scarcely  better,  for  that  which  is  your 
expectation  will  assuredly  be  his. 

"  This  doctrine  is  not  a  novelty  now  rash- 
ly and  for  the  first  time  propounded.  I  will 
show  you  before  I  have  done  that  it  is  as  old 
as  the  Christian  Church.  Neither  let  your 
own  experience  raise  a  prejudice  against  it. 
If  you  have  endeavored  to  realize  the  very 
truth  I  here  affirm,  but  find  that  your  chil- 
dren do  not  exhibit  the  character  you  have 
looked  for,  you  are  not  to  conclude  that  the 
doctrine  I  here  maintain  is,  of  course,  untrue 
or  impracticable.  .  .  .  Have  you  nothing  to 
blame  in  yourselves — no  lack  of  faithfulness, 
no  mistake  of  duty  which  with  a  better 
and  more  cultivated  piety  you  would  have 
been  able  to  avoid  ?  Have  you  been  so 
nearly  even   with   your  privilege   and   duty 


154  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

that  you  can  find  no  relief  but  to  comfort 
yourselves  in  the  conviction  that  God  has 
appointed  the  failure  you  deplore?  When 
God  marks  out  a  plan  of  parental  nurture, 
you  will  see  at  once  that  he  could  not  base 
it  on  a  want  of  piety  in  you  or  on  any  im- 
perfection of  manner  flowing  from  defect- 
ive piety.  Then,  again,  has  there  been  no 
fault  of  piety  in  your  church,  no  carnal 
spirit  visible  to  your  children  and  impart- 
ing its  noxious  and  poisonous  quality  to  the 
Christian  atmosphere  in  which  they  have  had 
their  nurture?  For  it  is  not  for  you  alone 
to  realize  all  that  is  included  in  the  idea 
of  Christian  education.  It  belongs  to  the 
Church  of  God  to  bear  a  part  of  the  respon- 
sibility with  you.^^ 

That  God's  promise  to  convert  the  chil- 
dren of  believing  parents  who  are  faithful, 
is  a  promise  to  renew  them  at  an  early  age 
is  (in  addition  to  what  has  been  said)  ren- 
dered more  than  probable  by  the  following 
considerations. 

Our  heavenly  Father  knows  that  when 
a  soul  is  brought  home  at  the  beginning  of 
life's  journey  it  escapes  a  thousand  snares 
which   would  otherwise  endanger  its   salva- 


THESE    LITTLE    0XFJ3.  155 

tion,  and  which  liave  caused  the  destruction 
of  multitudes.  Evil  companions,  corrupting 
books,  and  ruinous  errors  wliich  are  always 
afloat,  give  the  adversary  immense  advan- 
tage, and  are  used  bv  him  with  dreadful  ef- 
fect. Multitudes  fall  victims  to  evil  habits 
in  which  they  never  would  have  indulged 
liad  they  been  the  subjects  of  grace  in  child- 
hood. Moreover,  unless  good  habits  are  cul- 
tivated very  early,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult 
to  become  fixed  in  them.  All  experience 
shows  that  the  older  a  person  is,  the  harder 
it  is  to  forsake  old  ways  and  enter  upon  new 
ones ;  and  unless  habits  of  daily  and  system- 
atic secret  prayer,  resolute  conflict  with  sin  in 
its  various  forms,  liberality  to  the  cause  of 
Christ,  watchfulness,  and  others  of  a  similar 
kind,  are  formed  in  the  morning  of  life,  it  is 
exceedingly  doubtful  whether  they  will  ever 
become  strong,  even  supposing  the  effort  to 
form  them  be  subsequently  made.  All  this 
our  covenant  God  knows  wdien  he  cheers  our 
hearts  by  promising  to  renew  and  bless  our 
children. 

One  converted  to  God  in  childhood  will 
probably  before  the  end  of  his  life  make  far 
p;reater  attainments  in  holiness  than  he  would 


156  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

have  made  had  he  remained  an  unconverted 
person  until  a  later  period.  For  while  it  is 
true  that  sanctification  can  be  promoted  in  no 
other  way  than  by  union  to  Christ,  by  whicli 
we  become  partakers  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  yet 
it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the  Christian 
graces  will  never  grow  unless  they  are  ex- 
ercised, and  that  tliey  become  stronger  the 
more  they  are  exercised.  How  much  great- 
er advantages,  then,  than  others  do  they  pos- 
sess for  attaining  to  great  excellence  who 
begin  in  childhood  to  practice  the  graces  of 
faith  and  humility  and  love  to  God  and 
man  ! 

There  is,  moreover,  an  intimate  connec- 
tion between  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  ho- 
liness, so  that,  other  things  being  equal,  they 
who  are  most  familiar  with  divine  truth  will 
make  the  greatest  progress  in  religion.  But 
let  one  become  a  subject  of  God's  grace  in 
the  beginning  of  his  days,  and  then,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  thirsting  for  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word  so  early  in  life,  he  will  be  likely 
to  advance  rapidly  in  his  knowledge  of  the 
word.  Surely,  if  the  belief  that  our  children 
shall  be  made  new"  creatures  some  time  before 
they  die  is  fitted  to  refresh  and  comfort  our 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  157 

hearts,  our  souls  must  be  still  more  glad- 
dened by  an  expectation  (one  which  it  is  be- 
lieved the  Scriptures  encourage  us  to  cherish) 
that  they  will  be  renewed  while  yet  young, 
and  will  grow  up  Christians.  Can  it,  then, 
be  that  God,  who  knows  our  longings,  can 
mean  anything  less  by  his  promise  than  their 
early  conversion  and  sanctification? 

Then,  again,  as  we  do  not  forget  the  truth 
that  the  early  conversion  of  our  children 
would  shorten  the  period  of  their  subjection 
to  the  dominion  of  sin,  neither  is  our  heav- 
enly Father  insensible  to  it.  For  children 
are  born  with  a  depraved  nature,  and  can 
only  be  delivered  from  the  dominion  of  sin 
by  the  regenerating  act  x)f  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  years  which  are  spent  unprofitably  to 
ourselves  are  spent  unprofitably  to  others. 
It  is  not  until  the  kingdom  of  Christ  has 
been  set  up  in  our  own  souls,  and  we  are 
engaged  in  nourishing  the  gracious  principle 
implanted  there,  that  we  are  disposed  or  fit- 
ted to  seek  the  highest  welfare  of  our  fellow- 
men.  Here,  then,  is  another  consideration 
which  makes  it  probable  in  the  highest  de- 
gree that  the  divine  promise  to  regenerate 
and  sanctify  our  offspring  is  to  be  interpreted 


158  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

as  meaning  their  early  conversion  and  sanc- 
tification.  While  they  are  unrenewed  their 
influence  is  only  for  evil,  and  until  holy 
affections  find  a  home  in  their  hearts  they 
neither  can,  nor  will,  employ  their  powers 
in  the  service  of  Christ. 

But  if  any  are  disposed  to  think  that  it 
makes  very  little  difference  in  regard  to  one's 
usefulness  in  subsequent  life  whether  he  is 
renewed  in  childhood  or  at  a  later  period,  it 
will  at  least  be  aduiitted  that  his  becoming 
the  subject  of  gracious  influences  while  very 
young  will  facilitate  his  entering  upon  that 
employment  or  profession  which  will  be  most 
in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  and 
which  will  most  conduce  to  his  usefulness. 
They  only  who  are  governed  by  religious 
principle  have  their  own  usefulness  in  view 
when  they  choose  that  employment  in  which 
they  expect  to  spend  their  days.  They  alone 
seek  the  direction  of  God  in  the  matter.  If, 
then,  our  children  are  thus  under  the  influ- 
ence of  love  to  God  and  their  fellow- men 
while  they  are  very  young,  they  will  be  al- 
most certain  to  enter  upon  those  pursuits  in 
which  they  will  do  the  most  good,  and  God 
will    bless  them   and   their  labors.      Should 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  159 

it  be  his  will  that  they  engage  in  the  minis- 
try of  reconciliation,  they  will  choose  that 
for  their  life-work. 

Add  to  this  if  it  is  really  the  plan  of  God 
that  the  Church  should  grow  from  within  in 
the  truest  sense  of  the  word,  it  must  be  his 
will  that  our  offspring  should  be  renewed, 
not  late  in  life,  but  in  childhood. 

Tt  is  doubtless  true,  then,  as  Bushnell  says, 
that  God  lays  it  upon  us  to  expect  that  our 
children  will  grow  up  in  piety  under  the  pa- 
rental nurture,  and  assumes  the  possibility 
that  such  a  result  may  ordinarily  be  real- 
ized. The  child  is  to  grow  up  a  Christian 
and  never  know  himself  as  being  otherwise. 
It  is  to  be  remembered,  however — and  it  is 
this  which  Bushnell  loses  sight  of — that  the 
means  used  by  their  parents  and  by  the 
church  for  their  spiritual  welfare  have  a  re- 
lation to  the  peculiar  position  which  they 
occupy  as  children  of  the  covenant.  The 
fact,  which  is  so  precious,  of  the  connection 
between  the  faith  of  parents  and  the  sal- 
vation of  their  offspring  is  founded  on  noth- 
ing else  than  God's  promise.  God  prom- 
ises his  people  that  he  will  be  a  God  to 
them  and  to  their  seed  after  them — that  his 


160  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

Spirit,  which  is  upon  them,  will  be  upon 
their  children. 

What  is  the  promise  which  God  made  to 
Abraham,  and  which  was  subsequently  re- 
peated with  still  greater  explicitness  to  the 
members  of  the  Jewish  Church  by  their 
inspired  teachers,  Moses,  David,  Isaiah  and 
others,  and  which  Peter  again  presented  to 
his  hearers  on  the  day  of  Pentecost?  It  is 
this  :  "  I  will  establish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their 
generations,  for  an  everlasting  covenant  to  be 
a  God  to  thee  and  thy  seed  after  thee.'' 

Now,  it  is  intended  that  each  Christian 
parent  should  make  use  of  this  promise. 
And  as  it  would  involve  a  contradiction 
to  deny  that  the  offspring  of  believing  pa- 
rents are  members  of  the  visible  Church, 
while  admitting  that  they  are  within  the 
covenant  into  which  their  parents  enter 
with  God,  so  the  covenant-promise  holds 
out  to  them  the  expectation  that  their  lit- 
tle ones  will,  if  they  are  faithful,  grow  up 
in  piety. 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  161 


SOME  OF  THE  REASONS  WHY  SO  MANY  CHIL- 
DREN OF  PROFESSORS  OF  RELIGION  PER- 
ISH. 

We  are  not  to  attribute  the  ruin  of  those 
who  perish,  notwithstanding  their  parents 
are  members  of  the  church,  to  the  faihire 
of  God's  promise,  for  some  heads  of  fam- 
ilies, though  members  of  the  church,  live 
and  die  unconverted.  To  such  professors 
of  religion  no  promise  has  ever  been  made. 

As  a  general  thing,  these  unconverted  pa- 
rents are  not  even  formalists.  They  live 
without  thought.  They  live  carelessly  even 
as  to  the  externals  of  religion. 

Some  of  them,  however,  are  formalists, 
mistake  the  nature  of  religion,  and  suppose 
that  it  consists  in  knowledge  and  in  being 
exemplary  as  to  church  duties  and  outward 
conduct.  These  latter  unrenewed  parents 
who  are  church  members — these  formalists — 
may  not  only  be  careful  to  have  their  chil- 
dren baptized,  but  to  have  them  instructed 
also.  Perhaps  mistaken  ideas  of  duty  lead 
them  likewise  to  subject  their  families  to 
irksome  and  injurious  restraints.  And  all 
this  time  they  are  satisfied  and  at  ease  be- 
ll 


162  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

cause  tbey  and  their  children  are  included 
in  the  Church.  They  are  like  many  of  the 
Jews  of  old,  who  thought  themselves  safe  be- 
cause they  were  circumcised  and  were  strict  in 
observing  the  duties  prescribed  in  the  ritual. 
Yes,  the  children  of  unconverted  profess- 
ors may  be  baptized,  taught  the  catechisui 
and  instructed  and  restrained,  and  thus  grow 
up  well  informed,  while  yet,  like  their  pa- 
rents, they  are  destitute  of  all  true  religion, 
and  while  they  even  deny  that  there  is  any 
religion  beyond  an  orthodox  faith  and  moral 
conduct.  This  is  a  great  evil.  It  is  not, 
however,  to  be  avoided  by  going  to  the  oppo- 
site extreme,  and  by  denying  all  peculiarity 
of  relation  between  the  children  of  believers 
and  the  God  of  their  fathers.  There  is  no 
security  from  any  evil  but  the  grace  of  God 
and  the  real  life  of  religion  in  the  Church. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  covenant  should  not 
be  neglected,  nor,  on  the  other,  should  ex- 
ternal formal  assent  to  it  be  considered  as 
all  that  is  necessary.  Our  safety  consists  in 
adhering  to  the  word  of  God,  believing  what 
he  has  said,  doing  what  he  has  command- 
ed, and  at  the  same  time  looking  constantly 
for  the  vivifying  presence  and  power  of  his 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  163 

Spirit.  Our  children,  if  properly  instructed, 
will  not  be  ignorant  of  the  difference  be- 
tween obedient  and  disobedient  children  of  the 
covenant.  They  will  be  aware  that  if  insin- 
cere in  their  professions  or  unfaithful  to  their 
engagements,  they  are  only  the  more  guilty 
and  exposed  to  a  severer  condemnation. 

It  is,  in  short,  evident  enough  that  God 
is  not  to  be  charged  with  forgetting  his 
promise  when  the  children  of  church  mem- 
bers perish.  He  has  not  bound  himself  to 
save  the  offspring  of  irreligious  professors, 
though — blessed  be  his  name  ! — even  such 
are  not  beyond  hope. 

But  even  when  parents  are  not  mere  form- 
alists— even  when,  besides  being  church  mem- 
bers, they  are  true  believers.  Christians  in  re- 
ality— we  are  by  no  means  shut  up  to  the 
necessity  of  attributing  the  ruin  of  their  chil- 
dren, should  these  come  short  of  eternal  life, 
to  the  failure  of  the  divine  promise.  For 
the  covenant  has  its  conditions,  and  it  will 
be  found  that  in  the  cases  now  supposed  the 
conditions  have  not  been  fulfilled.  These 
parents,  however  sincere  in  their  piety,  have 
had  little  or  no  belief  in  God's  promise.  In- 
deed, perhaps  the  promises  intended  for  be- 


164  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

lieving  parents  have  never  made  any  impres- 
sion on  their  minds — have  never  even  been 
known  to  be  contained  in  the  Bible.  Besides 
this  failnre — viz.,  want  of  faith  in  the  cove- 
nant— they  have  failed  to  fulfill  its  conditions 
in  othe?^  ways.  They  have  neglected  parental 
duties.  They  have  not  snfficiently  prayed 
for  their  little  ones.  They  have  not  with  un- 
speakable pains  and  tender  solicitude  brought 
up  their  children  for  God.  In  consequence 
of  overrating  the  importance  of  the  things 
which  are  seen  and  temporal,  the  time  which 
should  have  been  devoted  to  the  instruction 
of  their  children  has  been  given  to  employ- 
ments not  really  necessary.  Even  to  pious 
parents  the  promise  does  not  apply  if  they 
neglect  to  use  the  means  for  the  conversion 
and  sanctification  of  their  offspring  which 
God  has  especially  appointed. 

A  BRIEF  CONSIDERATION  OF  SOME  OF  THE 
CONDITIONS  ON  THE  PERFORMANCE  OF 
WHICH  THE  PROMISE  IS  SUSPENDED  AS 
FAR    AS   THE    PARENT    IS    CONCERNED. 

There  are  degrees  of  faithfulness  in  bring- 
ing up  children  in  the  nurture  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord.     Some  fathers  and  mothers 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  165 

may  not  equal  others  in  this  fidelity,  while 
yet  they  cannot  be  fairly  charged  with  vio- 
lating the  condition  on  which  the  promise  is 
suspended.  We  shall  not,  therefi)re,  endea- 
vor to  be  very  precise  in  showing  when  you 
fulfill  the  conditions  to  be  performed  before 
the  promise  can  apply  to  you.  Every  parent 
will  be  successful  in  his  attempts  to  ascertain 
for  himself  wdiat  God  would  have  him  do 
who  searches  the  Scri])tures  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining. 

We  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  promise  is 
not  meant  for  those  who  do  not  believe  in 
it.  You  fail  to  perform  a  most  important 
condition  unless  you  exercise  faith  in  God's 
covenant  engagements  with  reference  to  your 
children — a  faith  which  will  rouse  you  to 
action. 

Recognizing  them  as  thus  included  in  the 
covenant,  in  order  that  you  may  be  entitled 
to  plead  the  promise,  you  must  pray  for  them 
— not  only  with  them,  but  for  them — and 
that  early  and  late,  and  without  ceasing,  and 
with  holy  boldness,  with  arguments  and  tears. 
If  many  children  disappoint  parental  hopes, 
notwithstanding  they  have  been  well  instruct- 
ed, it  may  be  because  too  little  prayer  was 


166  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

offered  for  them.  You  solemnly  engaged, 
when  you  presented  your  children  for  bap- 
tism, thus  to  pray  for  them.  If  you  keep 
your  promise,  you  will  never  let  a  day  pass 
without  earnest  pleadings  with  God  to  give 
them  his  Holy  Spirit.  Your  pleadings  will 
ascend  from  your  hearts  often  during  the 
day,  even  while  your  little  ones  are  gath- 
ered around  you,  little  thinking  of  your  so- 
licitude on  their  account,  and  in  the  stillness 
of  the  night,  when  they  are  locked  in  slum- 
ber. You  do  not  truly  love  them  if  you  can- 
not intercede  for  them.  We  should  not  see 
so  few  early  conversions  among  the  children 
of  God's  people  if  parents  would  thus  pray. 
The  promise  of  our  Saviour  would  be  fulfill- 
ed:  "Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.'' 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  prayer  will 
evoke  the  Holy  Spirit's  power  in  their  behalf 
if  we  do  not  exert  ourselves  to  instruct  them. 
There  is  no  duty  which  God  more  expressly 
commands  parents  to  perform  than  that  of 
diligently  teaching  their  children  the  truths 
of  his  word.  The  soul  cannot  be  saved  with- 
out knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  the  necessity 
of  such  knowledge  exists  in  the  case  of  the 
children  of  Christians  no   less  than  in  the 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  167 

case  of  others.  And  it  must  be  imparted  to 
them  early.  "  Not  by  chance,  not  at  inter- 
rupted and  infrequent  seasons,  but  patiently 
and  humbly  and  week  by  week,  that  wonder- 
ful and  eternal  book  must  be  opened  before 
them.  Its  sublime  yet  simple  truths,  plain 
to  the  child's  understanding,  its  grand  proph- 
ets and  ardent  apostles,  its  venerable  patri- 
archs and  its  inspired  children,  must  all  pass 
in  their  robes  of  light  and  forms  of  majesty 
and  beauty  before  the  child.  Its  psalms  must 
be  sung  into  his  soul.  Its  beatitudes  and 
commandments  must  be  fixed  in  his  remem- 
brance. Its  parables  must  engage  his  fancy. 
Its  miracles  must  awaken  his  wonder.  Its 
cross  and  ark,  and  all  its  sacred  emblems, 
must  people  his  imagination.  Without  that 
Bible  no  child  born  among  us  can  come  to 
Him  whom  only  the  Bible  reveals."* 

This  early,  assiduous  and  faithful  instruc- 
tion in  Bible  truth,  is  a  large  part  of  that 
nurture  which  is  intended  when  parents  are 
commanded  to  bring  up  their  children  in  the 
nurture  of  the  Lord.  Many  who  are  con- 
vinced that  it  is  a  duty  which  God  requires 

*  Sermons  for  the  People,  by  F.  D.  Huntington,  D.D., 
p.  205. 


168  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

of  them  still  neglect  it.  And  because  they 
are  conscious  of  neglect,  they  cannot  hear  or 
read  these  words  of  God  without  self-condem- 
nation and  reproach :  "  These  words,  which 
I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  in  tliy 
heart,  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently 
unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them 
wdien  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when 
thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest 
down,  and  when  thou  risest  up."  If,  however, 
their  children  are  still  young,  let  them  at  once 
begin  the  work,  remembering  for  their  en- 
couragement that  God  has  engaged  to  render 
such  nurture  effectual,  since  it  is  in  connection 
with  his  command  thus  to  bring  them  up  for 
him,  that  he  promises  to  be  their  God,  give 
his  Spirit  and  renew  their  hearts.  When 
you  presented  your  child  for  baptism,  you 
Ijromised  thus  to  instruct  it. 

Restraining  our  children  is  another  im- 
portant element  of  that  parental  faithfulness 
which  God  requires.  Merely  to  expostulate 
with  them  will  not  suffice.  The  tenderness 
and  impressiveness  of  Eli's  expostulations 
with  his  sons  could  hardly  be  exceeded,  but 
God  was  still  displeased  with  him  'because  he 
restrained  them  not.     That  steadv  exercise  of 


THESE   LITTLE  ONES.  169 

authority  which  trains  a  child  to  habits  of 
obedience  is  a  means  of  grace  to  him.  It  is 
a  means  which  God  has  ap}3ointed.  To  keep 
them  under  proper  restraint  is  wdiat  you  have 
engaged  to  do.  If  with  holy  solicitude  and 
love  you  endeavor  to  restrain  them  wisely 
and  at  proper  seasons,  you  will  then  also  be 
led  to  be  watchful  over  them  for  the  purpose 
of  guarding  them  from  evil  influences.  It 
is  difficult  effectually  to  guard  our  little  ones 
from  evil  influences  in  such  a  world  as  this, 
but  many  professing  Christians  do  not  even 
try.  They  do  not  make  companions  of  their 
children,  and  encourage  free  communications 
on  all  subjects,  and  sympathize  with  them  in 
their  joys  and  sorrows.  They  never  exer- 
cise a  firm  but  mild  discipline.  They  pay 
no  heed  to  the  declarations  and  warnings  of 
the  wisest  and  best  of  books.  "  The  rod  and 
reproof  give  wisdom,  but  a  child  left  to  him- 
self bringeth  his  mother  to  shame."  They 
do  not  watch  their  children  to  know  whether 
they  are  indulging  in  habits  of  sin. 

But  however  faithfully  these  duties  may 
be  fulfilled,  you  cannot  be  in  a  position  to 
plead  the  promise  with  confidence,  nor  can 
you  have  much  hope  of  success  in  your  ef- 


170  THESE    LITTLE    OKES. 

forts  to  save  your  children,  unless  the  silent, 
unconscious  influence  of  your  character  of  it- 
self has  power  (instrumentally,  of  course)  to 
form  them  unto  holiness.  They  must  be 
moulded  by  your  own  Christian,  holy  life. 
We  should  ever  remember  that  during  our 
children's  earliest  years  their  spirits  are  ex- 
quisitely susceptible  of  impression,  and  that 
"  God  does  not  hold  us  responsible  only  for 
the  effect  of  what  we  do  or  teach  or  for  acts 
of  control  and  government,  but  quite  as 
much  for  the  effect  of  our  being  what  we 
are ;  tliat  there  is  a  plastic  age  in  the  house, 
receiving  its  type,  not  from  our  w^ords,  but 
from  our  spirit  —  one  whose  character  is 
shaping  in  the  moulds  of  our  own." 

Grace  alone  can  originate  holiness  in  the 
souls  of  the  young,  and  yet  your  inward 
character  in  many  of  its  forms  will  repro- 
duce itself  in  your  offspring.  Parents  and 
children  of  the  same  family  partake  of  a 
common  life ;  and  it  must  be  so.  It  is  a  law. 
This  is  wdiat  Bushnell  means  by  the  organic 
unity  of  the  family.  He  says,  "  All  society 
is  organic — the  Church,  the  State,  the  school, 
the  family ;  and  there  is  a  spirit  in  each  of 
these  organisms  peculiar  to  itself  and,  to  some 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  171 

extent  at  least,  sovereign  over  the  individual 
man.  AVe  possess  only  a  mixed  individuality 
all  our  life  long.  A  pure,  separate,  individu- 
al man,  living  loholly  within  and  from  him- 
self, is  a  mere  fiction.  No  such  person  ever 
existed,  or  ever  can.  The  child  is  only  more 
within  the  power  of  organic  laws  than  we 
all  are.  I  need  not  say  that  this  view  of  an 
organic  connection  subsisting  between  parent 
and  child  lays  a  basis  for  notions  of  Chris- 
tian education  far  different  from  those  which, 
alas !  now^  prevail." 

The  last  sentence  of  this  passage  deserves 
to  be  profoundly  considered,  but  it  is  a  very 
hurtful  error  to  teach,  as  Bushnell  does,  that 
by  organic  natural  law  the  lioly  character  of 
pious  parents  is  transmitted  to  children  just 
as  other  forms  of  character  are.  In  no  case 
is  piety  or  spiritual  life  transmitted  from  pa- 
rent to  child.  If  a  child  is  found  to  be  truly 
holy  in  his  character,  we  know  that  he  be- 
came holy — in  other  words,  became  a  new 
creature — by  an  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Nothing  short  of  an  influence  above  nature 
— a  supernatural  influence — ever  brought  a 
human  soul  from  the  condition  of  spiritual 
death  in  which  it  began  its  existence  into  a 


172  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

state  of  spiritual  life.  In  the  case  of  some 
children  the  effectual  work  of  the  Spirit  may- 
antedate  the  intellectual  apprehension  of  tlie 
truth,  and  some  doubtless  are  sanctified  from 
the  womb  and  from  baptism;  but  at  whatever 
period  one  may  have  passed  from  death  unto 
life,  the  change  could  only  have  been  wrought 
in  him  by  that  mighty  power  which  wrought 
in  Christ  when  it  raised  him  from  the  dead. 

Still,  we  do  not  affirm  that  the  holy  charac- 
ter of  a  good  parent  exhibited  in  manifold 
ways  in  the  presence  of  his  child  cannot  in 
any  way  influence  him  for  good  through  the 
opemtion  of  organic  law.  While  there  is  no 
natural  law  by  which  the  likeness  of  a  pa- 
rent, as  far  as  its  Christian  graces  are  con- 
cerned, descends  into  his  child,  yet  the  con- 
stant exhibition  of  the  lovely  finiits  of  the 
Spirit  may,  and  often  do,  m  virtue  of  the 
laws  which  God  has  stamped  upon  the  so- 
cial element  of  the  soul,  have  a  powerful 
influence  on  the  young  for  good  and  pre- 
pare them  for  the  saving  work  of  the  Spirit. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  example  of  a 
holy  life  is  necessary.  Not  only  must  your 
children  be  thoroughly  instructed  in  the 
truths  of  the  Bible,  unceasingly  prayed  for 


THESE    LITTLE   ONES.  173 

and  restrained,  but  tliey  must  be  subjected 
to  the  subtle  and  powerful  iuHuence  which 
reigns  in  every  house  in  which  the  parents 
are  holy  and  spiritually-minded.  Your  real 
aim  and  study  must  be  to  be  the  means  of  in- 
fusing into  them  a  new  life,  and  to  this  end 
the  life  of  God  must  perpetually  reign  in 
you.  "  Gathered  round  you  as  a  family,  they 
are  all  to  be  so  many  motives  strong  as  the 
love  you  bear  them  to  make  you  Christlike 
in  your  spirit.  It  must  be  seen  and  felt 
with  them  that  religion  is  a  first  thing  with 
you.  And  religion  must  be  first,  not  in 
words  and  talk,  but  visibly  first  in  your 
love — that  which  fixes  your  aims,  feeds  your 
enjoyments,  sanctifies  your  pleasures,  sujd- 
ports  your  trials,  satisfies  your  wants,  con- 
tents your  ambition,  beautifies  and  blesses 
your  character.  This  is  Christian  education, 
the  nurture  of  the  Lord.^' 

The  Christian  parent  is  truly  obeying  the 
divine  injunction  to  bring  up  his  children 
in  the  nurture  of  the  Lord  who  thus  by 
his  own  holy  living  exerts  an  influence  upon 
them  for  good.  This  influence  our  little 
ones  can  feel  even  before  reason  is  developed, 
since  even  during  that  early  period  they  are 


174  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

under  the  power  of  the  parent's  character 
and  spirit.  ^^  Observe/'  says  Bushnell  in  a 
chapter  of  his  work  entitled  Whe7i  and  Where 
Nurture  Begins^  "  how  very  quick  the  chikl's 
eye  is  in  the  passive  age  of  infancy  to  catch 
impressions  and  receive  the  meaning  of  looks, 
voices  and  motions.  It  peruses  all  faces  and 
colors  and  sounds.  Every  sentiment  that 
looks  into  its  eyes  looks  back  out  of  its  eyes 
and  plays  in  miniature  on  its  countenance. 
The  tear  that  steals  down  the  cheek  of  a 
mother's  suppressed  grief  gathers  the  little 
infantile  face  into  a  responsive  sob.  ...  If 
the  child  is  handled  fretfully,  scokled,  jerked 
or  simply  laid  aside  unaifectionately  in  no 
warmth  of  motherly  gentleness,  it  feels  the 
sting  of  just  that  which  is  felt  toward  it; 
and  so  it  is  angered  by  anger,  irritated  by 
irritation,  fretted  by  fretfulness,  having  thus 
impressed  just  that  kind  of  impatience  or  ill 
nature  which  is  felt  toward  it,  and  growing 
into  the  bad  mould  offered  as  by  a  fixed  law. 
There  is  great  importance  in  the  manner 
even  in  the  handling  of  infancy."  Again : 
"  The  child  is  open  to  impressions  from  every- 
thing he  sees.  His  character  is  forming  un- 
der a  principle,  not  of  choice,  but  of  nurture. 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  175 

The  spirit  of  the  house  is  breathed  into  his 
nature  day  by  day.  The  anger  and  gentle- 
ness^ the  fretfulness  and  patience,  the  appe- 
tites, passions  and  manner,  all  the  variant 
moods  of  feeling  exhibited  around  him,  pass 
into  him  as  impressions  and  become  seeds  of 
character  in  him,  not  because  the  parents 
will,  but  because  it  must  be  so  whether  they 
will  or  not.  They  propagate  their  own  evil 
in  the  child,  not  by  design,  but  under  a  laio 
of  moral  infection.  The  spirit  of  the  house  is 
in  the  members  by  nurture,  not  by  teaching, 
not  by  any  attempt  to  communicate  the  same, 
but  because  it  is  the  air  the  children  breathe." 

AVe  are  hardly  in  danger  of  overrating  the 
power  of  parental  treatment  and  influence 
even  before  the  development  of  reason  in 
our  children,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  if  our 
spirit  is  always  a  Christian  spirit  in  their 
presence  previously  to  that  development,  and 
that  if  afterward  and  during  all  the  periods 
of  their  childhood  and  youth  our  example 
before  them  is  holy,  the  nurture  which  they 
receive  from  us  is  most  blessed. 

It  is  admitted  that  many  who  a])pear  to 
bring  up  their  children  religiously  are  afilict- 
ed  by  seeing  them  turn  out  badly,  but  per- 


176  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

haps  we  should  not  be  at  a  loss  for  the 
reason  of  tliis  did  we  constantly  live  in  the 
family.  We  might  then  witness  defects,  as 
it  regards  the  matter  of  example  and  treat- 
ment, which  we  are  now  far  from  suspecting. 
Besides,  how  do  we  know  that  these  parents 
are  incessantly  praying  for  their  children, 
and  are  exercising  that  faith  in  the  covenant 
which  is  required?  However  intimate  may 
be  our  acquaintance  with  religious  parents 
who  are  disappointed  in  their  children,  we 
cannot  see  their  inner  state  as  God  sees  it, 
and  we  are  not  competent  to  say  that  tliey  are 
just  the  parents  to  whom  the  promise  applies. 
It  is  also  admitted  that  sometimes  the  chil- 
dren of  unfaithful  parents  are  lovely  in  their 
childhood,  and  even  in  early  life  become  con- 
sistent members  of  the  church.  But  God 
has  nowhere  in  his  word  taught  us  that  he 
will  never  show  mercy  to  those  having  such 
parents.  Is  he  not  constantly  surprising  us 
by  manifestations  of  his  loving-kindness  to 
the  unfaithful  ?  It  is  true — and  it  is  a  cause 
for  unspeakable  gratitude — "that  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  children  of  God's  people,  even 
under  the  most  inadequate  nurture,  ultimate- 
ly, and  for  the  most  part  in  early  life,  give 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  177 

such  evidence  of  piety  that  tliey  are  admitted 
to  the  Lord's  Supper  on  a  credible  profes- 
sion. The  proportion  is  still  greater — im- 
mensely greater — in  churches  which  preserve 
unimpaired  the  true  idea  of  the  status  of  bap- 
tized children,  and  also  keep  up  the  high 
standard  of  evangelical  truth  and  piety."* 
In  order  that  we  may  be  in  the  position 
which  will  qualify  us  to  bring  up  our  little 
ones  in  the  nurture  of  the  Lord,  we  must  hold 
the  scriptural  idea  of  their  position  insisted 
on  in  the  above  quotation,  for  the  views  which 
are  held  of  their  relation  to  the  church,  neces- 
sarily determine  the  question  of  the  manner 
in  which  they  shall  be  instructed  and  train- 
ed. Unless  we  look  upon  them  and  act  to- 
ward them  as  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life,  as 
members  of  the  visible  Church  in  conse- 
quence of  our  being  members,  as  belonging 
to  God,  as  federally  holy,  our  ivJwle  manner 
toward  them  in  our  training  of  them  will  be 
shaped  by  the  opposite  view  of  their  position, 
and  so  we  shall  fail  to  obey  the  injunction  to 
bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord. 

*  Dr.  Atwater's  Children  of  the  Church.     Published  by 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication. 
12' 


178  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

These  are  some  of  the  parental  duties 
which,  if  we  greatly  prize  God's  covenant 
promise  with  reference  to  our  children,  we 
shall  earnestly  desire  and  endeavor  to  per- 
form. Let  us  now,  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible, consider — 


THE   EFFECT  WHICH  THIS   PROMISE   SHOULD 
HAVE   UPON   US. 

1.  The  new  creation  of  a  soul  by  the  al- 
mighty power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  incon- 
ceivably more  wonderful  than  the  creation 
of  a  world  out  of  nothing.  That  God  is 
able,  therefore,  to  promise  us  the  regenera- 
tion of  our  children,  should  have  the  effect 
of  calling  forth  our  adoring  wonder. 

2.  Another  effect  which  this  promise  should 
have  upon  us,  is  that  of  allaying  parental  fears 
and  giving  us  comfort.  Perhaps  we  dread  to 
have  our  little  ones  grow  up  to  maturity  when 
we  look  around  us  and  see  what  multitudes 
become  in  mature  life  careless  of  religion, 
salvation,  eternity,  "and  bad  and  wretched 
themselves  and  causes  of  what  is  bad  and 
wretched  around  them.''  But  here  is  God's 
kind  promise  to  assure  us  that  our  own  shall 


THESE    LITTEE    ONES.  179 

turn   out  well  and  be  for  ever  saved,  if  we 
train  them  up  in  the  way  they  should  go. 

3.  The  promise  should  stimulate  us  to  ex- 
ertion. Our  efforts  to  bring  about  any  result 
must  necessarily  be  feeble  if  our  hopes  of 
success  are  faint.  It  is  only  when  we  can  be 
hopeful  that  we  can  toil  cheerfully  and  per- 
severe. Some,  not  feeling  the  stimulus  of 
encouragement  in  the  work,  perform  parent- 
al duties  fitfully  and  languidly.  They  have 
never  been  in  the  habit  of  looking  upon 
their  children  as  having  any  particular  in- 
terest in  the  promises  of  the  covenant.  They 
expect  their  children,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  be  converted,  if  at  all,  after  arriving  at 
the  years  of  discretion.  They  have  no  faith 
to  animate  their  prayers  or  to  give  vigor  to 
their  efforts.  But  let  us  believe — let  us  have 
faith  in  covenant  promises — and  we  shall 
experience  the  happy  effect  which  such  faith 
will  have  upon  us  in  making  us  diligent  in 
our  efforts  to  promote  the  spiritual  good  of 
our  children. 

4.  When  God  gave  us  this  promise,  it  was 
with  the  design  that  we  should  plead  it.  He 
is  therefore  grieved  if,  when  we  pray  for 
our   little  ones,  we  do   not  remind  him  of 


180  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

it.  How  many  fathers  and  mothers  have 
often  prayed  sincerely  for  their  children 
without  ever  once  presenting  to  God  his 
own  gracious  promise !  How  strange  that 
they  should  so  constantly  forget  to  do  it ! 
Let  us  learn  from  Israel  and  Moses  and 
other  saints  of  old  how  to  pray,  for  they 
pleaded  the  promises. 

5.  The  liveliest  gratitude  to  God  for  his 
tender  symj^athy  with  us  should  be  excited 
in  our  hearts.  He  knows  the  tender  and 
anxious  love  of  parents,  and  his  promise 
shows  that  he  feels  and  cares  for  them. 
He  sees  that  they  long  to  have  their  off- 
spring saved,  and  therefore  he  says,  "  Know, 
therefore,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  he  is  God, 
the  faithful  God,  which  keepeth  the  cove- 
nant and  mercy  with  them  that  love  him 
and  keep  his  commandments  to  a  thousand 
generations." 

6.  We  should  often  talk  with  our  chil- 
dren about  this  })romise.  If  we  permit 
them  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  it,  we  dis- 
please God.  They  need  the  encouragement 
which  the  promise  gives,  no  less  than  we 
do.  '^We  should  endeavor  by  our  habit- 
ual   spirit,    by   our    example,    prayers    and 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  181 

instruction,  to  lead  them  cordially  to  con- 
sent to  the  covenant  within  which  they  are 
by  birth  included.  We  should  awaken  in 
them  the  consciousness  of  their  peculiar  re- 
lation to  God.  We  should  remind  them 
that  God  has  made  promises  to  them  which 
he  has  made  to  no  others,  and  that  both 
their  privileges  and  responsibilities  are  pe- 
culiarly great.''  We  may  then  hope  that 
they  will  claim  God  as  their  God,  while 
they  will  not  be  ignorant  of  the  truth  that 
their  right  to  do  so  is  founded,  not  on  their 
freedom  from  sin  and  condemnation,  but 
solely  on  the  promise  of  God  in  the  cove- 
nant of  grace. 

7.  We  should  let  our  minds  dwell  daily 
on  the  infinite  good  which  the  promise  se- 
cures for  our  children.  It  secures  for  them 
deliverance  from  Satan,  the  forgiveness  of 
all  their  sins,  adoption,  justification,  sancti- 
fication  and  eternal  life.  Its  fulfillment  will 
make  them  possessors  of  everything  worth 
having.  In  all  things  they  will  be  con- 
querors through  Him  that  loved  them. 

8.  When  we  see  that  our  children  have 
been  converted  to  God  beyond  all  doubt, 
and  when   it  is  evident  to  us  that  they  are 


182  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

growing  in  grace,  v/e  should  not  be  satis- 
fied with  feeling  grateful  in  our  hearts,  but 
we  should  thank  God  with  our  lips,  and 
that  often,  for  his  faithfulness  in  fulfilh'ng 
his  kind  promise. 

9.  We  sliould  be  much  impressed  by  the 
thouglit  that,  provided  our  faith  in  God^s 
covenant  is  very  strong,  the  effects  of  our 
faith  will  be  far-reaching,  and  Avill  be  felt 
long  after  we  are  dead.  If  our  faith  is 
vigorous,  and  if  its  strength  is  evinced  by 
the  manner  in  which  we  train  up  our  lit- 
tle ones,  then,  when  these  become  parents, 
they  too  will  strongly  grasp  the  promise, 
so  that  their  children  will  be  the  blessed 
of  the  Lord.  It  is  almost  certain  that  our 
views  of  the  covenant,  and  our  conduct  as 
parents  in  reference  to  it,  will  decide  what 
even  our  distant  descendants  are  to  be,  and 
what  kind  of  influence  in  the  world  those 
descendants  will  exert. 

10.  The  promise  should  not  merely  be 
looked  upon  in  its  relation  to  ourselves 
personally,  but  we  should  consider  that  it 
indicates  God's  plan  of  building  up  the 
Church.  We  should  desire  that  a  know- 
ledge of  the  great  truth  which  it  teaches  as 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  183 

to  the  divine  method  of  establisliing  Christ's 
kingdom  in  the  world  should  be  widely  dif- 
fused and  acted  on.  Even  those  who  are 
not  parents  themselves,  but  who  love  the 
Saviour  and  his  cause,  should  be  deeply 
interested  in  the  promise,  and  all  classes 
of  Christians  grieving  that  it  is  so  little 
understood,  and  is  so  neglected,  should  earn- 
estly pray  that  it  may  receive  the  attention 
of  those  who  now  disregard  it.  Ministers 
of  the  gospel  should  have  much  to  say  con- 
cerning it  in  their  preaching,  and  should 
seek  to  make  their  hearers  familiar  with  it. 
"  The  covenant  relation  of  the  children  of 
believers  to  God,  and  the  divinely-consti- 
tuted connection  between  the  faith,  and  faith- 
ful training  on  the  part  of  parents,  and  the 
salvation  of  their  children,  is  a  truth  to  which 
the  attention  of  the  Church  needs  to  be  di- 
rected in  this  age,  in  which  an  opposite  spirit 
so  generally  prevails." 

The  church  pledges  her  members  who  sus- 
tain the  parental  relation  her  assistance  and 
sympathy  in  the  arduous  work  they  have  to 
perform.  She  promises  to  combine  her  faith 
and  importunity  with  theirs,  in  pleading 
God's   covenant  engagement.      God   expects 


184  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

this  of  her.  He  requires  her,  no  less  than 
the  parent,  to  take  hold  of  his  covenant :  "  I 
will  be  a  God  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after 
thee." 

But  besides  pleading  with  faith  in  con- 
junction with  their  parents  for  the  children 
born  within  her  pale,  she  has  other  duties  to 
perform  for  tliem  ;  and  touching  these  duties 
we  w^ish  to  say  a  few  w^ords  before  con- 
cluding. 

She  is  bound  to  consider  them  as  under 
her  government  and  inspection  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  and  she  is  bound  to  give  them 
instruction.  It  is  to  the  church  that  the 
Saviour  said,  "  Feed  my  lambs."  Sabbath- 
schools,  priceless  as  they  are,  do  not  bind 
the  children  to  the  church  like  ecclesiastical 
instruction  tenderly  and  kindly  given — in- 
struction regularly  and  carefully  imparted 
both  by  the  pastor  and  the  elders.  "AYe 
are  afraid,"  said  the  great  and  good  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander,  "  that  pastors  have 
become  remiss  in  this  part  of  their  duty 
from  the  mistaken  idea  that  their  labors  in 
this  field  are  now  superseded.  This  mis- 
take should  be  carefully  counteracted  ;  and 
while  the  benefits  of  Sunday-schools  are  grate- 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  185 

fully  acknowledged,  the  instruction  of  our 
youth  in  the  catechisms  of  our  own  Church 
should  be  pursued  with  increasing  diligence.'' 
He  also  says:  "The  business  of  catechising 
youth  seems  also  to  be  one  of  the  appropri- 
ate duties  of  the  eldership,  for  surely  these 
officers  ought  not  to  be  restricted  to  mere 
matters  of  order  and  government.  As  lead- 
ers of  the  people  they  should  go  before  them 
in  religious  instruction ;  and  it  would  be  an 
expedient,  as  it  is  a  common,  arrangement  to 
have  each  parish  so  divided  into  districts 
that  every  elder  would  have  a  little  charge 
of  his  own  to  look  after,  the  families  within 
which  he  might  frequently  visit,  and  where 
he  might  frequently  collect  and  catechise  the 
youth.  If  ruling  elders  are  commonly  in- 
competent to  perform  such  a  work  as  this, 
they  are  unfit  for  the  office  which  they  hold, 
and  can  be  of  little  service  in  the  church  in 
other  respects.  It  is  now  becoming  matter 
of  common  complaint  that  our  ruling  elders 
are  not  generally  sensible  of  the  important 
duties  which  belong  to  their  office,  and  are 
not  well  qualified  to  perform  them.  But 
how  can  the  evil  be  remedied  ?  We  answer 
that  the  effectual  remedy  will  be  found  in  an 


186  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

increased  attention  to  instruction  in  tlie  doG- 
irines  of  the  Church,  by  which  means  many 
will  acquire  a  taste  and  thirst  for  religious 
knowledge;  and  whenev^er  this  occurs,  there 
will  be  rapid  progress  in  the  acquisition  of 
such  a  fund  of  sound  theology  as  will  qual- 
ify them  to  communicate  instruction  to  the 
young  and  ignorant.  In  the  mean  time,  let 
every  pastor  meet  with  the  elders  of  his 
church  once  in  the  week  for  the  express 
purpose  of  discussing  questions  which  relate 
to  the  duties  belonging  to  their  office,  and 
thus  those  who  are  really  desirous  of  exe- 
cuting their  office  in  a  faithful  and  intelli- 
gent manner  will  become  better  prepared  for 
their  important  work  every  year." 

Every  one  must  see  in  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath-school  a  special  manifestation  of 
God's  love  and  tender  pity  for  children  out- 
side of  the  pale  of  the  visible  Church,  but 
the  children  of  the  covenant  are  in  a  peculiar 
sense  under  the  charge  of  the  officers  of  the 
church.  They  are  solemnly  bound  to  man- 
ifest a  sincere  and  tender  interest  in  them 
and  to  seek  to  render  them  conscious  of  their 
church  -relations,  and  certainly  it  is  their 
duty  to  give  them   doctrinal   instruction  as 


THESE    LITTLE    ONES.  187 

they  are  able  to  receive  it.  If,  however,  the 
elders  come  short  of  their  duty  to  the  young, 
pastors  should  be  diligent  in  meeting,  cate- 
chising and  exhorting  them  as  children  of 
the  church.  Indeed,  under  no  circumstances 
will  a  pastor  neglect  regular  catechising  if  he 
labors  faithfully  in  the  word  and  doctrine. 
"  It  is  an  error  to  study  the  Bible  without 
generalizing  its  teachings  and  acquiring  some 
conception  of  it  as  a  whole,"  but  even  per- 
sons who  have  passed  the  age  of  childhood 
require  the  assistance  and  instructions  of  the 
pastor  in  generalizing  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures.  If  more  pains  Avere  taken  to 
explain  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  to  those 
who  are  still  children,  and  to  illustrate  them 
in  a  way  adapted  to  their  capacity,  we  should 
doubtless  be  surprised  at  the  power  of  com- 
prehending us  which  they  would  evince.  "  It 
is  often  asserted  that  it  is  impossible  for  chil- 
dren to  understand  the  Creed.  .  .  .  The  dif- 
ficulty lies  rather  in  the  teacher  than  in  the 
capacity  of  the  pupil  or  in  the  intrinsic  na- 
ture of  the  doctrine.  He  has  only  a  vague 
and  general  apprehension  of  revealed  truth, 
and  has  never  trained  himself  to  make  lu- 
minous   and    exact    statements   of   it.     Any 


188  THESE   LITTLE   ONES. 

clergyman  who  is  master  of  Christian  theol- 
ogy, and  who  himself  thoronghly  understands 
tlie  Creed  and  catechism,  will  be  able  to  make 
tlie  youth  of  his  congregation  understand  it 
alsoj  as  others  have  done  before  him.  ...  In 
a  long  pastorate  the  people  become  indoctri- 
nated as  a  matter  of  course,  in  case  the  pas- 
tor begins  to  catechise  at  the  opening  of  his 
ministry.^^ 

The  people  ought  to  become  at  least  some- 
what  indoctrinated  through  the  labors  of  the 
pastor  even  though  his  pastorate  is  not  very 
long.  It  is  our  belief  that  many  good  Chris- 
tians— men  by  no  means  wanting  in  culture 
— lament  their  ignorance  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Bible,  and  sincerely  wish  that  as  regards 
these  doctrines  their  pastors  would  guide  and 
instruct  them.  "A  preacher  is  not  a  mere 
exhorter,  but  a  dcodaxaXo^.  Teaching  is  his 
peculiar  official  duty." 

Ecclesiastical  instruction  imparted  to  the 
young  in^  the  way  above  pointed  out,  is 
all  the  more  necessary,  since  experience  has 
seemed  to  show  that  it  is  impossible  for  us 
to  have  schools  and  academies  under  the  care 
of  the  Church.  For  the  efforts  made  some 
years  ago  to  establish   them   proved   utterly 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  189 

unsuccessful,*  and  the  problem  still  remains 
to  be  solved  how  the  children  of  the  Church 
and  the  youth  of  our  country  are  to  be  really 
religiously  educated.  Can  it  be  possible  that 
the  anxiety  on  this  subject  which  not  many 
years  ago  was  so  extensively  felt  in  the 
Church  has  entirely  died  away?  Is  it  no 
longer  believed  by  any  one  that  education 
should  be  religious — that  religion  should  be 
a  regular  part  of  the  course  of  instruction 
in  all  our  non-professional  educational  insti- 
tutions? Have  we  now  found  out  that  we 
may  harmlessly  and  without  opposing  any 
command  of  God  entirely  banish  religion 
from  the  place  of  education  ?  Then  we  have 
made  a  discovery  which  somehow  our  fathers 
never  made,  for  they,  it  would  seem,  "never 
imagined  it  possible  to  educate  their  children 
apart  from  the  supreme  object  of  making 
them  intelligent  and  faithful  Christians  by 
means  of  their  educational  instruction  and 
discipline.  And  this  was  the  view  of  edu- 
cation substantially  which  was  held  by  the 
primitive  CiuMstians.  They  counted  with  as- 
sured certainty  upon  their  retaining  by  this 

*  We  refer  to  Dr.  Van  Eensselaer's  efforts  and  those 
of  his  coadjutors. 


190  THESE    LITTLE    ONES. 

means  all  their  children  under  the  saving  in- 
fluences of  the  covenant.  We  have  the  best 
evidence  that  among  them  it  was  a  matter  of 
as  confident  expectation  that  all  their  chil- 
dren would  be  Christians,  as  it  ever  was 
among  the  Jews  that  all  their  children  would 
be  Jews.  This  principle  gave  form  and  ef- 
ficiency to  the  educational  institutions  of 
Christian  countries  from  the  time  of  the 
apostles  and  the  Alexandrian  academy,  un- 
der the  great  Origen,  to  the  Reformation,  and 
from  the  Reformation  until  within  the  mem- 
ory almost,  of  some  who  are  now  living.'^  * 
Were  Ave  as  consistent  as  are  the  millions 
of  Mohammed's  followers  and  many  heathen 
nations,  we  should  make  the  Bible,  luJiich  we 
profess  to  believe  came  from  God,  the  very 
groundwork  and  text-book  of  all  education. 
The  Koran  is  the  sacred  book  of  the  Moham- 
medans, and  they  act  as  if  they  sincerely  so 
regarded  it.  Notwithstanding  the  literature 
Avhich  they  possess  in  their  books  of  poetry, 
of  romance  and  of  history,  and  in  their  origi- 
nal and  translated  works,  they  teach  the  Ko- 
ran   so   assiduously    to    their    children    and 

■^  See  Dr.  Mcllvaine's  article  on  "Covenant  Educa- 
tion" in  the  Princeton  Review  for  April,  1861. 


THESE   LITTLE   ONES.  191 

youth  that  its  influence  is  diffused  through 
every  department  of  society  and  its  spirit 
and  precepts  are  practically  regarded.  We 
are  therefore  shamed  by  the  very  heathen 
and  Mohammedans  in  neglecting  as  we  do 
to  use  the  word  of  God  as  an  instrument  of 
education.  It  must  be  so  used  if  our  holy 
religion  is  ever  to  take  hold  of  the  public 
mind. 

But  whether  we  can  justly  charge  the 
Church  with  neglecting  her  duty  or  not  in 
failing  to  have  under  her  care  schools  and 
academies,  the  fact  remains  that  she  is  not 
making  use  of  such  educational  institutions 
for  the  purpose  of  religiously  educating  her 
children,  and  therefore,  as  was  said,  pastors 
have  all  the  more  reason  to  be  exceedingly 
diligent  in  attending  to  the  catechetical  in- 
struction of  the  children  and  youth.  Were 
they  generally  faithful  in  the  performance  of 
this  duty,  who  can  estimate  the  blessed  re- 
sults which  would  follow?  Dr.  Shedd,  in  the 
last  chapter  of  his  splendid  work  on  homi- 
letics  and  pastoral  theology,  considers  the 
influence  of  catechising  on  the  congregation. 
He  says  (each  of  these  points  is  admirably 
handled)  that  catechising   the   children   and 


192  THESE    LITTLE   ONES. 

youth  results  even  in  the  indoctrination  of 
the  adults ;  that  it  protects  the  youth  against 
infidelity  and  spurious  philosophy;  that  it 
promotes  a  better  understanding  of  the  word 
of  God  in  the  congregation ;  that  it  renders 
the  youth  more  intelligent  hearers  of  preach- 
ing; that  it  induces  seriousness  among  the 
youthful  part  of  the  congregation ;  that  it 
results  in  frequent  conversions ;  and  that  it 
results  in  genuine  conversions. 


THE   END. 


^33^ 


■■■..■--',  "^ff. 

';:•,■'■  •.4- 


i.' 


-V 


^4^&>-*^&^>i''^*^' 


